BHA: Lords Reform Committee calls for end of reserved seats for Bishops
Reports circulating in the media that the parliamentary Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform is poised to endorse the removal of reserved places in the upper house for Church of England Bishops have been given a provisional welcome by the British Humanist Association (BHA).
The Joint Committee called BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson to give oral evidence to the committee and make the case for removing reserved places for Bishops as part of reform, following oral evidence from the Archbishop of Canterbury in favour of retaining them. This followed the submission of written evidence by the BHA to the committee laying out the case for reserved places for Bishops to go.
Currently, there are 26 places in the House of Lords automatically given to Church of England Bishops, and the government’s proposals would actually increase the proportion of Bishops in the chamber, and removed them from the disciplinary procedures, creating an independent and unaccountable bloc for Church of England in Parliament through proposing to retain the deeply undemocratic reserved places for the church of England in our parliament.
The BHA has argued that this privilege for one denomination of one religion is unwarranted in a plural and increasingly non-religious society. The BHA has also argued that the traditional defences for keeping Bishops – that they provide unique moral insight, that their removal would equal disestablishment and that their presence is necessary to reflect the place of religion in wider society – are empty when analysed.
Commenting on today’s speculation, BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson said: ‘If these reports are accurate, then we greatly welcome this positive step. The arguments in favour of removing the reserved places for Bishops have never been persuasively countered and certainly not by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s evidence to the Committee.
‘We very much hope that the Committee’s official view on 27 March will confirm these reports and that the Government will listen to the view of the Committee if it is as reported. Both the Government and the Committee will also hopefully recognise that not only do arguments to retain Bishops have no intellectual credibility, they are also unpopular with the public, with polls indicating 74% of the population –including 70% of Christians – believe it is wrong that Church of England Bishops are given automatic places.’
Notes
Read the articles in the Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2115139/Bishops-face-losing-seats-Lords-700-years.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
and the Daily Mirror:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/house-of-lords-reform-nick-clegg-762091
2010 ICM poll on Bishops in the House of Lords commissioned by the Christian thinktank Ekklesia:
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/survey_on_bishops_icm.pdf
For further comment or information contact Pavan Dhaliwal, Head of Public Affairs at pavan@humanism.org.uk or on 0773 843 5059
Read Andrew Copson’s oral evidence to the Committee on Lords Reform: http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/939
Read BHA written evidence to the Committee on Lords Reform:
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/joint-committees/draft-house-lords-reform-bill/JCHLR%20Written%20Evidence%20Web%20Version.pdf
For more information read the BHA’s briefing on Bishops in the Lords:
http://www.humanism.org.uk/_uploads/documents/1bha-briefing-bishops-in-the-lords-2011-final.pdf
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.
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