England's King Henry VIII was ironically granted the title "Defender of the Faith" in 1521 by Pope Leo X, who was grateful for Henry's critique of Martin Luther's theology -- ironically, because Henry was later excommunicated by Leo's successor, Clement VII, for declaring himself head of the Church in England, thus severing himself from the authority of Rome. Nevertheless, English monarchs have continued to proudly sport the title of "Defender of the Faith" down to our own day. And now we have this:
Queen Elizabeth is to be the last of the British monarchs crowned with this title, "Defender of the Faith." Charles, the current Prince of Wales, is likely to be England's first New Age king, complete with belief in reincarnation, a panentheistic worldview, and postmodern morals. In a recent interview, Charles declared himself unwilling to take on the title, "Defender of the Faith." Better, he said, to be known as "Defender of Faith" since "people have fought each other to the death over these things, which seems to me a peculiar waste of people's energies." He added that he would be the "defender of the Divine in existence, the pattern of the Divine which is, I think, in all of us, but which, because we are human beings, can be expressed in so many different ways." So the future King Charles will defend faith, but no particular faith, including Christianity and especially the Church of England, of which he will be head. Charles will be the perfect king for a church whose bishops routinely deny the most basic doctrines of the Christian faith. [From Albert Mohler, "'You Are Bringing Strange Things to Our Ears:' Christian Apologetics for a Postmodern Age"]
Well, I suppose it was bound to come to this ever since Henry put his desire to divorce Catherine and marry his mistress ahead of his obedience of faith ... from "
the Faith" -- "the Faith of our Fathers" -- to "faith" ... in what? Faith
in faith? In Spirituality? In the goodness of humanity? In rising earth mother? Moloch? Quo vadis?
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