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Cartoon: Mass mailing bishops

16/03/2010 19:10:00



A group called Power 2010 has been running a campaign urging people to mass mail bishops asking them to abolish themselves from the House of Lords (slight simplification). The Ekklesia website has been supporting this, and so far over 50000 e-mails have been sent, although the number of senders is a tiny fraction of this given that the 'easy to use tool' has all of the bishops names ticked by default, meaning that they all get sent identical messages.

Not everyone has been happy about this. Nick Baines describes it as attempting to "embarrass the 26 bishops in the House of Lords into backing a 100% elected second chamber", whilst Clayboy explains why he thinks people shouldn't sign up here. Jonathan Bartley has responded to these criticisms on the Ekklesia site: Questions about bishops. I'll leave you to decide whether his arguments hold water - please feel free to have your say in the comments below.


What they want is disestablishment without saying the word. Watering down this country's Christian identity even further would have consequences for every Briton who follows a Judaeo-Christian faith tradition.

Frugal Dougal | 17/03/2010 12:48:25

I do wish the bishops to stay in the House of Lords. AND to tske their responsibility there mostseriously - bu attending. Therrs is the Chrsitan voice that will be silenced if abolished. Chrsitians should basck them, not fantasize about their replacements. However, tjhey, the bishops should each have an ecumenticla council in their dioceses to consult ith, including muslims. We should all be pleaeedd to have a vboice of believers in the upper chamber.

gunilla Mattsson-Willis | 17/03/2010 12:54:59

We should have a 100% elected upper house. If people want the bishops there, they can vote them in. Henry VIII originally gave the bishops the seats and I think time has moved on a bit since then.

Alice Jones | 18/03/2010 00:34:05




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