Ditch the bishops?
On tomorrow's Sunday Sequence we'll debate a question I raised here a few days ago: Is it time to remove the 26 bishops currently permitted to sit in the House of Lords in the context of a planned reform of the upper chamber? To discuss the question, we've invited the former Assembly Speaker, , the political journalist ANtony Howard and Keith Porteous Wood, director of the National Secular Society. That segment begins just after the news at 9am.
Click to read the new report on the role of bishops in the House of Lords from the think tank THEOS.
Comments
There are two sides (at least) in this debate:those who believe in the separation of Church and State and those who see no harm or danger in mixing the two. I belong to the former camp because I think that the State should not ally itself to any church (eg. the RoI of recent years) but should instead be neutral as regards all the different outlooks that people hold. That is the secular viewpoint as epitomised by the American Constitution.
So it is a pity that you provide a web link to only one side of the debate, the anti-secular side. Anyone who wants to consider the secular side should go to the websites of the National Secular Society or the British Humanist Association. Here is a link to the latter:
This is just a matter of democracy. Only elected people should be in the house of lords. It's a matter of religious integrity too, because an established church gives the government a role in selecting bishops. That's ridiculous.