New move to abolish the bishops’ bench in House of Lords
Douglas Hogg, who sits in the House of Lords as Viscount Hailsham, has this week tabled an amendment to the bill which would remove the 26 seats automatically given to Church of England bishops.
The bill is intended to remove members of the House of Lords who inherit the right to a seat. The National Secular Society argues that automatic places in the House of Lords for bishops are just as unjustifiable as those given by hereditary principle. Last year, the NSS worked with a cross-party group of MPs to support a similar amendment when the bill was in the House of Commons. Labour whipped MPs to vote against the amendment, which was defeated.
"There is no justification at all for giving automatic seats to individuals in the upper house just because they represent a religious group. Doing so is undemocratic, unfair and allows an unacceptable, privileged platform for the Church of England to push for its interests."
https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2025/...hops-bench
Douglas Hogg, who sits in the House of Lords as Viscount Hailsham, has this week tabled an amendment to the bill which would remove the 26 seats automatically given to Church of England bishops.
The bill is intended to remove members of the House of Lords who inherit the right to a seat. The National Secular Society argues that automatic places in the House of Lords for bishops are just as unjustifiable as those given by hereditary principle. Last year, the NSS worked with a cross-party group of MPs to support a similar amendment when the bill was in the House of Commons. Labour whipped MPs to vote against the amendment, which was defeated.
"There is no justification at all for giving automatic seats to individuals in the upper house just because they represent a religious group. Doing so is undemocratic, unfair and allows an unacceptable, privileged platform for the Church of England to push for its interests."
https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2025/...hops-bench
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
