What is an Anglican?

Question

what do they believe in?

Answer 1

jeez, don't get me started on those twisted......people.

Answer 2

The Anglican religion is the closest religion to Catholicism. The largest difference is that Anglicans (or Episcopalians) do not have a pope. There are some minor differences, but if you are familiar with the Catholic church, then you have a general idea of what the Anglican church is like.

Answer 3

Anglicans, known in various parts of the world (and not just the U.S.) also as Episcopalians, are both Catholic and Protestant. We have liturgy and the apostolic succession, but do not accept the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome (the guy in the white robes at the Vatican). The mother church of the Anglican Communion is the Church of England - which existed independent of Rome until the Council of Whitby in AD 664 and once again became independent of Rome c. AD 1549.

some helpful websites

A PDF of useful info on the Anglican Communion
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/acis/pdf/ac.pdf

Links to other useful info related to the Anglican Communion
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/acis/index.cfm

Outline of the Faith, commonly called the Catechism
http://pttw.org/outline.html

What Episcopalians believe
http://pttw.org/beliefs.html

Historical Documents, including The 39 Articles of Religion and the Athanasian Creed
http://www.saintgabriels.org/bcp/hist.html

The Apostles' Creed
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/acis/docs/apostles_creed.cfm

The Nicene Creed
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/acis/docs/nicine_creed.cfm

The Instruments of Unity (we don't have one person at the top of the governance pyramid)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/acis/docs/unity.cfm

Edited to add:
And NO Henry VIII did not start the Church of England. The Church of England submitted to the Bishop of Rome in AD 664, Henry VIII only liberated it. Considering that Henry was born in 1491 it would be physically impossible for Henry to have started the Church of England unless he possessed some secret method of time travel. Saint Augustine of Canterbury (not to be confused with the similarly named saint of Hippo) is credited as one of the founders of the English church having been sent to the British Isles by Gregory the Great in AD 596.

Answer 4

When Henry VIII wanted to divorce one of his wives and couldn't do it because he was Roman Catholic, the Anglican church was born. In the U.S., the Episcopal Church is the equivalent of the Anglicans.

Answer 5

Think "English" (that's what "Anglican" really means.) Think Roman Catholic, without the pope and having married Priests.

"English Catholics" says it best.

We believe in Scripture, Tradition and Reason in equal measure.

And we are creedal Christians...meaning that we believe in the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed.

Answer 6

If you're interested, this is a popular forum for Anglican Christians, you may find more answers here...

http://christianforums.com/f368-scripturetraditionreason-anglican-old-catholic.html

Answer 7

It is the Church of England. It was started by King Henry the 8th. At that time in history the pope was in charge of the church and almost all the rulers of the nations. King Henry got tired of having to go to the Pope to ask for permission to do things in his own country, so he broke with the Catholic Church and started the Church of England. Here in the United States it is called the Episcopal Church.

Answer 8

Church of England.

Very close to Roman Catholic, but the priests may marry.

In America, they're called Episcopalians. My friend Frank is a priest, and he jokingly says "We're God's frozen people". Very witty guy. And my, is his daughter gorgeous!

Answer 9

do they have gay people in their church now? in positions i mean (pun not intended)