# If The British PM Weren't a Christian (would she still have spoken at the Queen's funeral)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 19, 2022, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806 "2022-09-19T10:42:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/1 "2022-09-19T10:42:52Z")
I watched Liz Truss read from the New Testament at the Queen’s funeral. I’m going to assume that she is, at the very least, culturally Christian. Had the PM been a Hindu or Muslim or atheist or what have you, would she still have spoken at the funeral (although I’m assuming not read Christian scipture)? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/2 "2022-09-19T11:11:00Z")
I can’t find a factual answer, probably because such decisions are made in private. My guess is that, since it is primarily a Christian funeral, it would have been for her to decide. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/3 "2022-09-19T13:32:05Z")
There’s no rules against non-Christians reading from the Bible in the Church of England, if they want to. Of course, the Queen would have decided long ago what verses she wanted read, and as she’s the Head of the Church of England, they were always going to be religious, so PM Sunak would have had to be happy to read, or sit this one out. There’s nothing that says the PM has to read at State funerals. No one would have cared. It could have been Princess Anne, or William, or someone we’ve never heard of instead. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/4 "2022-09-19T13:36:55Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > or someone we’ve never heard of instead. Like the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth - The Right Honourable Patricia Scotland KC, who read the first lesson. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/5 "2022-09-19T13:48:28Z")
To be fair to Baroness Scotland, I had at least heard of her! Of course, it made perfect sense, as the Commonwealth was so important to The Queen. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/6 "2022-09-19T14:53:45Z")
This of course nearly happened (as the other contender for PM in the recent leadership race was Rishi Sunak, a practicing Hindu, who took his MP’s oath on the Bhagavad Gita) The general consensus (actually what my mum thinks, who’s the only person who’ve I’ve heard express an opinion 🙂 ) is he would not have read the bible passage that Liz Truss read. There are plenty of appropriate non-biblical readings he could have done, of course. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/7 "2022-09-19T15:46:54Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > There are plenty of appropriate non-biblical readings he could have done, of course. Except no doubt that Queen chose her own readings, and there wasn’t exactly much time for a rethink. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/8 "2022-09-19T16:33:17Z")
Of course knowing the history of the British monarchy and/or Anglican church, if there are formal rules regarding the beliefs of the people who can read scripture in church at royal funerals, they probably say nothing at all about Hindus, Muslims or Satanists, but are very explicit about banning Catholics 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/9 "2022-09-19T18:19:05Z")
Since this requires a lot of speculation, let’s move this to IMHO (from FQ). If anyone can find any relevant factual information (rules of the church, etc), this is of course still welcome. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/10 "2022-09-19T19:23:47Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > There’s no rules against non-Christians reading from the Bible in the Church of England, if they want to. Indeed my Anglican church school allowed, nay _required_, avowedly atheist me to perform readings from the Bible in morning chapel. They never required it of my Muslim classmates, which seems unfair in retrospect. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/11 "2022-09-19T21:09:46Z")
As it happens, Cardinal Vincent Nichols (Archbishop of Westminster and the senior Roman Catholic clergyman in England and Wales) offered a prayer at the service (right after the Moderator of the Free Churches Group and before the [Anglican] Archbishop of York). The Procession of Religious Representatives is listed on pages three through five of the [order of service (pdf!)](https://www.westminster-abbey.org/media/15467/order-of-service-the-state-funeral-of-her-majesty-queen-elizabeth-ii.pdf); they entered after the foreign royals and other heads of state but before the British royals, and included Jewish, Jain, Zoroastrian, Muslim, Hindu, and other non-Christian representatives. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/12 "2022-09-21T06:54:37Z")
The CofE tends to reflect something Elizabeth I said:“I would not make a window into men’s souls”. Observance/attendance is one thing, what you’re really thinking inside is up to you. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-british-pm-werent-a-christian-would-she-still-have-spoken-at-the-queens-funeral/971806/13 "2022-09-21T07:49:03Z")
Exactly - it’s kind of a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ situation. Though of course with public figures, their religious affiliation may be public knowledge. Even then, I don’t think the church would mind about them reading from the bible, if they were happy to do so. I am an atheist but have read from the bible at a friend’s Catholic wedding - they knew my views and kindly chose a passage that was not overly religious. For my part, I was happy to do it to the best of my ability. I was supporting the marriage, I didn’t have to believe the “this is the word of the Lord” part.