'Many of the sermons we hear are fiercely critical of the government’s actions - not really surprising, in a church with a left-wing liberal standpoint in a country with a right-wing government.'

Helen Angove compares the influence of religion here with that in the US.

An American friend of mine - like me a middle class, educated Westerner, a woman with whom I would usually expect to hold many opinions and values in common - has a young daughter in an American public (that is, State) school. Last Christmas, in class, the daughter had 'The Legend of the Candy Cane' read to her - a somewhat hackneyed and saccharine Christmas parable that does, however, contain some fairly robust references to the Passion of Christ.

My friend was horrified that such material should be disseminated in a State school - and complained vociferously to the teacher.

I have some sympathy with the importance they place in America on the separation of State and religion. As an ideal, an attempt to ensure that no-one is discriminated against on the basis of their religion, I applaud it. That said, I have to admit it would not particularly bother me if my child was read a piece of theology or doctrine of any given religion (with perhaps, the exception of Satanism…) at school, so long as it was not presented to her as an eternal truth in which she must believe.

It seems to me that here in America, they presume the influence of religion to be more compelling than we do in the UK. They expect the words to have power.

The church we go to is at present under investigation by the IRS (Inland Revenue Service). Not, as you might think, because there is any suspicion of tax fraud, but, in fact, because it is being too political.

The federal tax code prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from intervening in political campaigns and elections. Last autumn, a former Rector of the church visited and gave a sermon in which he vehemently condemned some of the actions of the present administration - most notably the war in Iraq.

This is not unusual stuff in our church. Many of the sermons we hear are fiercely critical of the government’s actions - not really surprising, in a church with a left-wing liberal standpoint in a country with a right-wing government. The clergy are always scrupulously careful however, to stop short of endorsing any particular political candidate or telling people to vote for any particular political party. And they are even-handed in their condemnation - Clinton too came in for his share of criticism.

But this time it seems that somebody was out to cause trouble, and contacted the IRS complaining that our church should have its tax-exempt status revoked. The bizarre part of the story is that the IRS took this seriously, and as I write, the matter is still under investigation. Some people I know have gone so far as to suggest parallels between this situation and events of the Nixon era, when it is claimed that the IRS was deliberately used by the political administration to harass the opposition.

When I heard this story, it got me thinking about what might have happened had I, when I was in ministry in the UK, been highly political from the pulpit.

A certain amount of political rhetoric might have produced a little tut-tuttery from the blue-rinse brigade, but would have gone no further. Actual endorsement of a particular candidate or party would have been considered 'not done', and, had I persisted, might have resulted in a slapped wrist from the archdeacon. But I do not believe that there would have been much of a fuss, or indeed any official sanction that could have been brought to bear.

As with my friend’s experience with the Candy-Cane book, it’s the same expectation again. The words of the Church - or religion in general - are expected here to have authority, and the perception is that they must be prevented from having too much influence over public life.

I leave you with the question then - is one of the reasons that religion has less influence over everyday life in the UK, that compared to the US it has lower attendance rates at religious worship and fewer people who profess to a faith - is this, partly at least, simply because we expect it to have less influence?

And while you ponder that, may I finish by wishing you all - in true American politically-correct fashion - a very merry holiday season and a happy new year.

Helen Angove is a former Anglican priest from the UK who moved to California in July 2003.

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