State church
State churches are organizational bodies within a Christian denomination which are given official status or operated by a state.
State churches are not necessarily national churches in the ethnic sense of the term, but the two concepts may overlap in the case of a nation state where the state boundary largely corresponds to the distribution of a single ethnic group to which a certain denomination is attached as an aspect of ethnic identity. State churches, by contrast, may also be minority denominations which are given political recognition by the state.
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[edit] China
In the People's Republic of China, there are two branches of state-operated churches; the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
Pastors are trained at state-approved seminaries and are appointed by the government.
[edit] Denmark
- Church of Denmark (Lutheran)
- Church of the Faroe Islands (Lutheran), split from Church of Denmark
[edit] Finland
[edit] Greece
[edit] Iceland
[edit] Norway
[edit] United Kingdom
- Church of England (Anglican)
- For historical reasons, the Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian body, is both established in law and free from state control. It thus regards itself as a "national" church rather than a state church.
