Twenty-six Anglican bishops are given seats as of right in the House of Lords.
This is unfair, undemocratic and undesirable. It's time to abolish the bishops' bench.
Two archbishops and 24 bishops of the Church of England currently have automatic seats in the House of Lords. They are sometimes known as 'the lords spiritual'.
We campaign for a secular upper house with no specific religious representation, whether of Christian denominations or any other faiths. In a secular state no religion or its leaders should have a privileged role in the legislature.
Only one other sovereign country reserves seats in its legislature for clerics: the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Any serious proposals to reform the House of Lords must address the unjustified privilege of the bishops' bench.
62% of Brits think no religious clerics should have an automatic right to seats in the House of Lords.
After over a century of decline in religious attendance in Britain, the claim that bishops — or any other religious representatives — speak for any significant constituency is not warranted. Less than 2% of the British population now attend Anglican services on the average Sunday.
In addition, the presence of religious leaders amounts to double representation of religious interests as many peers already identify themselves as being religiously motivated. Retired religious leaders are often appointed as peers.
Bishops do not have any "special moral insight" unavailable to everybody else. The idea that bishops or any other 'religious leaders' have any monopoly on issues of morality is offensive to many non-religious citizens. Those who profess no religion are no less capable of making moral and ethical judgements.
In an increasingly secular society the role of religious representatives in our legislature has become irrelevant, and has stood in the way of progressive legislation.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to help end the archaic, unfair and undemocratic bishops’ bench in the House of Lords.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Tackling CofE privilege unites Anglicans and atheists at NSS event
Posted: Thu, 18 May 2023 11:46
Politicians and priests united to challenge Church of England privileges at a National Secular Society event in parliament yesterday.
Four speakers joined the NSS's discussion on the future of church and state to argue why separation between the two would benefit both the UK state and the Church itself.
The event at the Houses of Parliament was held in the wake of King Charles' Anglican coronation this month, which shone a spotlight on the intimate relationship between church and state in the UK.
The Church's established status has also come under increased scrutiny over its continued discrimination against LGBT people and women, and its recent safeguarding scandals.
The four speakers called for an end to the CofE's many privileges, including automatic seats for its bishops in the House of Lords and Christian prayers imposed in parliament and schools.
Tommy Sheppard MP: Church in parliament "offends against a sense of democracy"
The event was opened by Scottish National Party MP Tommy Sheppard, who sponsored the event. He said he was "surprised and shocked" by the extent to which the Church permeates parliament, and that both prayers in parliament and bishops in the Lords "offend against a sense of democracy".
Pointing to the recent Census results for England and Wales, which revealed Christians are a minority for the first time, he said we are "no longer a Christian country" and that the role of the Church in parliament is "incredibly unrepresentative" of the population. He said it was incumbent on the government to make parliament more representative. He plans to arrange a debate on the bishops' bench and put questions to ministers that "they will find hard to answer".
Jayne Ozanne: The established Church 'doesn't serve anyone particularly well'
Jayne Ozanne, a prominent gay evangelical who works to ensure full inclusion of LGBT+ people within faith communities, highlighted that only 55% of British people trust clergy to tell the truth. This is less trustworthy than taxi drivers, and is 30 points behind trust levels in 1983.
She said this decline in trust in the Church "should cause greatest concern", but comes as "no surprise" in the wake of sexual abuse scandals and cover-ups, including the recent report into bishops' inaction over rapist priest Trevor Devamanikkam. She also condemned the "toxic nature of institutional homophobia" in Church culture. She said the "tide is turning" on the "hypocrisy" of the Church "lecturing" the government on morality.
Ozanne said that bishops should not be automatically elevated to the House of Lords, and criticised them for using their privilege to obtain exemptions from equality law to discriminate against LGBT people.
Finally, she questioned who establishment serves. She said doesn't serve the monarch, the country, God or even the bishops, because serving in the House of Lords interferes with their role of running a dioceses. She concluded that establishment doesn't serve "anyone particularly well", ending with: "We need champions who will defend all the vulnerable, who will speak and be heard, and whose voices are ones that the nation recognise as trustworthy and true.
"And I'm sorry to say that this is no longer, in my mind, automatically that of the bishops – and so their privileges must now go".
Dr Martyn Percy: Established Church is an overcrammed "vestry cupboard"
Ozanne was followed by theologian and ordained CofE priest Dr Martyn Percy. He compared establishment with an old, dusty "vestry cupboard" overcrammed with things no longer needed. He said that he was "really struck" by the Church's efforts to make things "look clean and tidy", when underneath is "chaos, confusion and even corruption". He said he is still a Christian but has "lost faith" in the Church of England to reform itself.
Dr Percy criticised Church law as "out of touch" with employment and human rights law, and Church safeguarding as a "catastrophic mess", with too many conflicts of interest and conflation of power and authority.
He echoed Ozanne's concerns about the Church's failure to solve issues like same-sex marriage, and said the bishops in the Lords are "highly problematic" as they should be there on merit rather than appointed by right.
He said "parliament must act" to repeal the Church's privileges and that it would not take much time to set things in motion.
Finally, quoting Michael Caine in The Italian Job, he said the solution to the 'vestry cupboard' of the established church is to "blow the bloody doors off".
Polly Toynbee: Coronation a "turning point" for the established Church
The final speaker, writer and broadcaster Polly Toynbee, said the coronation was a 'shocking wake up moment' for many people, who were left "gobsmacked" by the highly religious and "peculiar" nature of the ceremony and the vows King Charles took to maintain "the Laws of God" and the "Protestant Reformed Religion established by law". She pointed out this meant the archbishop "had more powers than the King did", and that the coronation was therefore "quite a turning point" in making disestablishment relevant.
Toynbee highlighted how the Church's privileges support state-funded Church of England faith schools, many of which are "socially selective" due to their religiously discriminatory admissions policies, and the law requiring collective worship in all schools.
She criticised the bishops using their privileges in parliament to oppose a range of social reforms, including same sex marriage and assisted dying. She stressed that we have to remember the Church still has an "enormous impact on how we live and how we die".
NSS chief executive" "Really heartening to see a growing 'broad church' in favour of replacing privilege with equality"
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans, who chaired the event, said: "This discussion not only emphasised why it is more important than ever to disestablish the Church of England – it demonstrated that the appetite for separation of church and state is growing among Brits of all religions and beliefs.
"It is really heartening to see a growing 'broad church' in favour of replacing privilege with equality. And our excellent speakers last night embodied this perfectly.
"A huge thank you to Tommy Sheppard, Jayne Ozanne, Martyn Percy and Polly Toynbee for so eloquently putting into words what increasing numbers of individuals, both within and outside of the Church, are thinking."
Image: (From left): Martyn Percy, Tommy Sheppard, Stephen Evans and Jayne Ozanne
Remove bishops from House of Lords, says commission
Posted: Wed, 29 Mar 2023
Bishops should no longer sit as of right in the House of Lords, a commission on political reform has said.
In a paper published today, the Commission on Political Power has said Church of England bishops are an "anomalous" presence in the House of Lords and recommended their removal in a reformed second chamber.
The National Secular Society called for this reform in its submission to the commission in October.
Currently two Church of England archbishops and 24 bishops are given seats in the upper house (the "bishops' bench") and are able to vote on legislation.
Their position grants them other privileges, and they are given deferential treatment by other members.
The NSS said it was "indefensible" to maintain the status quo, with 2021 YouGov polling showing only 16% of the public believe bishops should be given seats automatically.
The commission said reform of the House of Lords is "urgently needed", with many questioning its undemocratic nature and "legitimacy within Britain's political system".
The commission has called for the House of Lords to be replaced with a representative Senate and recommended removing the bishops' bench as one of ten ideas for reform.
It said the presence of bishops is "anomalous as representatives of the established religion".
It added that change would require primary legislation.
The commission also said any appointments commission for the House of Lords "should take into account the balance of faith representation".
NSS: Scrapping the bishops' bench would "remove an unjustifiable religious privilege from our legislature"
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "Ending the arrangement whereby representatives of one religious denomination are given seats as of right would remove an unjustifiable religious privilege from our legislature and make for a more equitable and democratic second chamber.
"Whilst it would be reasonable for an appointments commission to take into account the balance of faith representation in a reformed House of Lords or Senate, any attempt to build in religious-based representation, whether ex-officio or appointed, would be a divisive and retrograde step."
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