As our egregious government continues its campaign to tell everyone what to do while taking no notice of those who elected it and whom it supposedly represents, every day brings more woes.
To my simple mind, the members of the Church of England have every right to tell their bishops and clergy what they will and will not accept in terms of the running of their organisation; after all, without those who attend for services, there would be no need for the church. That the worshippers, the so-called 'laity', voted against the appointment of women as bishops has caused so much furore is, therefore, quite ridiculous; the very notion that the chrch is now in danger because of a failure to abide by anti-discrimiantion and equalities legislation is utterly laughable. Nonetheless, it is said that a number of Members of Parliament, including the idiot child himself (Cameron, that is) have expressed varying degrees of unhappiness at the outcome of the vote; some ahve apparently suggested that the C of E may now well find itself stripped of various legal immunities and made subject to the assorted laws relating to equality and so on.
How dare they ! The 'laity' have expressed a democratic view in a vote conducted within an essentially private organisation. The ways in which a religion is conducted cannot possibly be considered to be in the same province as, say, the ways in which the NHS or BBC operates. Whether or not women should be eligible for bishoprics is not a matter for the law but for the Church and its members.
Of course, those with vested interest voted to allow the creation of women bishops and are now all mortified that they haven't got their way, but these people are as much politicians as they are churchmen. They see various political benefits accruing to them as a result of cow-towing to the current craze for 'equality' so were all in favour. Knowing that Rowan Williams, the disastrous and thankfully outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury was wholeheartedly in favour of the appointment of women bishops and that the next incumbent, Justin Welby has reportedly said that the motion will nonetheless be enacted, tells us that this is not a matter that those in power have any intention of allowing the ordinary people to stymie.
This has been very much a case of "Democracy is fine, as long as it produces the result that we want"; if it doesn't then we'll just ignore it or find a way round it. So much for Democracy.
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