I don’t think there’s more riveting public speaking than seeing a pastor in the pulpit on Sunday morning. [Church] was the first place that I was exposed to art and music and public speaking and reading

Ayo Edebiri, actress, interview, The Times, 17 January

Bishops in the House of Lords voted with the government in whipped votes just five times last year, The Sun on Sunday can reveal. While they voted against the government 276 times in 2022/23. This means they rebelled against No10’s laws 98 per cent of the time, according to House of Lords research

The Sun on Sunday, 21 January (published online on 20 January)

(a) bishops are not whipped, & (b) certainly not by Government. This is an attempt at intimidation by Govt supporting MPs & press, before the Rwanda Bill gets to the Lords. It will not work

Richard Chapman, C of E’s head of parliamentary affairs, X/Twitter, 20 January

I guess religious people — especially people like me who exercise some religious authority — are often accused of being a bunch of hypocrites. They think we say one thing in public and another in private. But if someone says to me: ‘Vicar, you’re a hypocrite, I’m never coming to church’. My response is; ‘Yes, I am a hypocrite and there’s always room for one more’

Rachel Mann, Archdeacon of Bolton and Salford, and poet, interview, The Daily Telegraph, 19 January

Schools, police and councils alike are cowed both by threats from extremists and accusations of Islamophobia. It is unthinkable that human rights lawyers would seize a case mounted by evangelical Christians to demand a school chapel and playground prayer circles, or that they’d be granted legal aid

Janice Turner, The Times, 20 January

Yet what is the same-sex faithfulness here celebrated [in Prayers of Love and Faith), if not a sexual one? It is true that ordinary, non-sexual friendship greatly values faithfulness (though not in an exclusive sense), but in that case, why is the service explicitly aimed at same-sex couples? Why can these prayers not be valid for any two pals, or indeed relations, who are fond of one another? Are they available only to a couple that has a formal civil partnership or same-sex marriage?

Charles Moore, The Daily Telegraph, 16 January

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