The Archbishop of Canterbury believes it would not be "the end of the world" if the Church of England was disestablished.

But he does not wholeheartedly back such a move, arguing that, ultimately, the advantages of establishment outweigh the disadvantages.

Dr Rowan Williams, whose previous post was as Archbishop of the disestablished Church in Wales, was asked if he recognised the case for disestablishment. He said: "The answer's yes."

The Archbishop, speaking to James Macintyre for the Christmas edition of the New Statesman, was born in south Wales and said his views were influenced by growing up in a disestablished Church.

He said: "I spent ten years working in a disestablished Church and I can see that it's by no means the end of the world if the establishment disappears. The strength of it is that the last vestiges of state sanction disappeared, so when you took a vote at the Welsh Synod, it didn't have to be nodded through by parliament afterwards. There is a certain integrity to that."

One aspect of the establishment of the Church of England is that all measures passed by the General Synod, which next meets at Church House Westminster in February, have to be ratified by Parliament.

But Dr Williams said he did not think it should be on the agenda at the present time.

He said: "At the same time, my unease about going for straight disestablishment is to do with the fact that it's a very shaky time for the public presence of faith in society. I think the motives that would now drive disestablishment from the state side would be mostly to do with . . . trying to push religion into the private sphere, and that's the point where I think I'd be bloody-minded and say, 'Well, not on that basis.'"

Earlier this month, the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu came out strongly in favour of the Church of England remaining established. In an essay for the Institute for Public Policy Research, Dr Sentamu strongly resisted any moves towards disestablishment, arguing that there was a strong case for regarding the Church as a public body that does not exist simply to serve believers and that whether or not most people attend regularly is irrelevant.

Senior sources have dismissed recent claims that disestablishment is being considered by some in the Government. The sheer amount of Parliamentary time that would be involved means any move in that direction would have to be at the initiative of the Church of England. However, what is described in church circles as "creeping disestablishment" has been taking place for years as the Government takes an increasingly minimal role in senior church appointments and in church legislation.

The main emblems of establishment yesterday are the monarch's position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England and the 26 bishops who sit in the House of Lords. The last stage of reform of the upper chamber, if it ever goes ahead, is likely to see this number reduced significantly although not abolished altogether. A way might also be found to include other faith leaders in the Lords.

It is considered extremely unlikely that there will be any move to relieve the monarch of their position of Supreme Governor during the lifetime at least of the Queen and her oldest son the Prince of Wales, a staunch ally of the Church of England and supporter of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. And although it is not yet certain whether it will be done, were the Coronation Service to be altered to have the future King pledge himself as "defender of faith" rather than "the faith" as he wishes, this would not affect the establishment of the Church of England.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the matter.