# Does the Prime Minister of uk have belong to the Church of England? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-prime-minister-of-uk-have-belong-to-the-church-of-england/220169 "2003-12-20T14:08:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-prime-minister-of-uk-have-belong-to-the-church-of-england/220169/21 "2003-12-23T08:37:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kris \* > \*\*Benjamin Disraeli (PM in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880) was Jewish but to become Prime Minister he “became” Anglican, but that was some time ago. > > Today, I don’t think it would really matter. > > (The oath of allegiance is a formality. I have seen footage of known republican MP’s laughing when making their oath to the queen and reading it in a mocking way). \*\* That isn’t real disrespect. There a few times when it is actually traditional for MPs to appear disrespectful to the Crown. The only other that comes to mind at the moment is when they’re called to audience with HM during the opening of Parliament, and traditionally joke around and sort of file in whenever they feel like it. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-prime-minister-of-uk-have-belong-to-the-church-of-england/220169/22 "2003-12-23T09:20:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*Curiously, Harry Turtledove has Confederate SecState Judah Benjamin (a Jew) deliver a variation on this line in _Guns of the South_. \*\* Once Disraeli said something, all mid-1800s Jewish Gov’t officials had to repeat it _L_ ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-prime-minister-of-uk-have-belong-to-the-church-of-england/220169/23 "2003-12-23T13:14:36Z")
Hey, we’ve got to be proud where we can. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-prime-minister-of-uk-have-belong-to-the-church-of-england/220169/24 "2003-12-23T13:21:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*At which point the other MPs all went “Oh, _snap!_” \*\* Thanks a bunch, **friedo**. You do realize that I’ll never be able to watch PMQs again without giggling helplessly, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![ajfrod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ajfrod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ajfrod)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-prime-minister-of-uk-have-belong-to-the-church-of-england/220169/25 "2003-12-29T08:00:49Z")
Uk does have a constitution. Has any catholic ever become Prime Minister? If not. what will happen. ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-prime-minister-of-uk-have-belong-to-the-church-of-england/220169/26 "2003-12-29T08:20:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ajfrod \* > \*\*Uk does have a constitution. Has any catholic ever become Prime Minister? If not. what will happen. \*\* Nothing. Regardless of the law and/or British constitution the UK is increasingly a religously diverse nation and also increasingly secular. The people would not vote someone into power who made constant references to their religion. Religion is viewed as a private matter and many, many people would balk at the notion of the PM using God, Allah or whatever in public speeches and even more so in government policy. If you look at many of the posts in this thread you will find many people saying “I _think_ this person was a \”. This kind of proves the point that it isn’t easy to find out what religion, if any, the PM’s have been because it isn’t an issue. The people don’t really care (imho) as long as it doesn’t affect policy. A catholic PM could never, for example, ban abortion or contraception in Britain because of his/her religous beliefs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-prime-minister-of-uk-have-belong-to-the-church-of-england/220169.md?page=1)