Antidisestablishmentarianism

Antidisestablishmentarianism is a political position. It means "to keep an established church". An official state church is called the "established" church, so a disestablishmentarian is a person who wants to stop the state church. These people say a state church hurts the freedom of religion. These people say the state should be secular, meaning religion and the country are separate. This idea is called disestablishmentarianism. So antidisestablishmentarianism wants to keep the state church.Adrian Hastings, Church and State: the English Experience (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1991.)

It is famous because it is one of the longest words in the English language. 

 History in England 
The word comes from England in the 1800s. In England, Ireland and Wales, there was an official state church called the Anglican Church. Ireland disestablished in 1871, and Wales disestablished in 1920. England still has the Anglican Church as the state church.

In 2014 Nick Clegg, who was the leader of the Liberal Democrats at the time, said that he thought the Church of England should no longer be the established church."Nick Clegg advocates separation of Church and state".BBC News. BBC. 25 April 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2014. David Cameron, who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said the establishment helps the church and state.

 As a word 
Antidisestablishmentarianism is one of the longest words in the English language. It has 28 letters and 12 syllables. It is considered to be the longest word, if you do not count technical terms. For example, "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" is a technical term for the lung disease asbestosis, made by people who wanted it to be the longest word.What is the longest English word? Oxford Dictionaries Online However, while some dictionaries, such as the Cambridge dictionary have decided to include antidisestablishmentarianism, Merriam-Webster has stated that it will not add the word  to its dictionaries due to a lack of widespread use. 

 In pop culture 
The word became famous because of a popular television show in the 1950s called The $64,000 Question, where someone spelled it and won. Duke Ellington, a jazz artist, had a song called "You're Just an Old Antidisestablishmentarianismist"."ELLINGTON, Duke". Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014. Eminem, a rapper, used the word in his song "Almost Famous".Eminem (2014). "Eminem – Almost Famous Lyrics".Rap Genius. Genius Media Group Inc. Retrieved 7 May2014.

 Construction of the word 
 establish
 to set up, put in place, or institute
 dis-establish
 to end the established status of something, in this case a state church
 disestablish-ment
 the separation of church and state
 anti-disestablishment
 do not want disestablishment
 antidisestablishment-ary
 about anti-disestablishment
 antidisestablishmentari-an
 someone who does not want disestablishment
 antidisestablishmentarian-ism
 the movement or ideology that does not want disestablishment

Related pages

 Secularism
 State religion
 The separation of church (Religion) and State
 Racial religions (such as ethnic religions), Nationalism 

References

Category:Long words
Category:Religion in England