state church
Noun
Meaning
state church (plural state churches)
a church established by or controlled by the government of a country.
Synonyms
Examples
Although Catholics possessed legal equality, they resented their subordination to a government that was fundamentally Protestant in spirit and membership after having been the state church for centuries in the south.
Anabaptists were persecuted largely because of their interpretation of scripture that put them at odds with official state church interpretations and government.
Another modern proponent of the institutionalisation of Confucianism in a state church is Jiang Qing.
As the Church of Norway is the state church, its clergy are state employees, and the central and regional church administrations are part of the state administration.
Bliss Isely, The Presidents: Men of Faith (2006) pp. 99–107, quote on p. 105 Monroe was raised in a family that belonged to the Church of England when it was the state church in Virginia before the Revolution.
In spite of his service to (and in his artwork the glorification of) the government, he was hardly a great supporter of the monarchy or of the state church.