As for a change in the Anthem, Jerusalem was mentioned, the only problem I see with that is that it is named after a city that is not in the UK. Jerusalem is in Israel. That is like America using an Anthem named “Paris”. It seems odd to me.
‘Jerusalem’ the poem (set to music) isn’t literally about the actual city of Jerusalem, it’s about England.
In fact it’s specifically about Jerusalem not being in England 😄 It’s a warning about not being complacent and too nationalistic and it’s sung frequently by people who are complacently nationalistic.
"The poem was inspired by the apocryphal story that a young Jesus, accompanied by Joseph of Arimathea, a tin merchant, travelled to what is now England and visited Glastonbury during his unknown years.[2][3] The poem’s theme is linked to the Book of Revelation (3:12 and 21:2) describing a Second Coming, wherein Jesus establishes a New Jerusalem. The Christian church in general, and the English Church in particular, has long used Jerusalem as a metaphor for Heaven, a place of universal love and peace.[a]
In the most common interpretation of the poem, Blake implies that a visit by Jesus would briefly create heaven in England, in contrast to the “dark Satanic Mills” of the Industrial Revolution. Blake’s poem asks four questions rather than asserting the historical truth of Christ’s visit. Thus the poem merely implies that there may, or may not, have been a divine visit, when there was briefly heaven in England"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_did_those_feet_in_ancient_time
The poem clearly asks if Jesus walked in England. The answer being no. The point being that England is not particularly worthy of regard and has to strive to be worthy of a holy visitation. It is frequently sung by people who don’t get this really simple message.
So you disagree with wiki’s interpretation of the poem that I quoted?
Uh, yeah. As someone with more than passing familiarity with analysis of Blake’s works, I’d agree with Bingo that the wiki’s interpretation is wildly off the mark. You can fault the poem for its sentimentality and rose-tinted view of the past, but it never even pretends to put forth or support these strange religious theories, although it was likely inspired by them. The hypothetical future “Jerusalem” is created by the people of England returning to what they believe is good and right from the current “Satanic” industrial revolution – inspired by Christianity in their hearts certainly, but it is not built by the literal presence of Jesus in England. That’s never anything but metaphor in the poem.