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
Sandi Toksvig starts petition to remove bishops from Lords
Posted: Fri, 3 Feb 2023 14:26
Writer and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig has launched a petition to remove the bishops appointed to the House of Lords.
The petition, launched today on Change.org, calls for "the removal the Church Of England's privilege to appoint bishops into the House of Lords, and remove existing bishops currently sitting in the House of Lords".
As a result of the Church of England's established status, two of its archbishops and 24 currently are assigned seats as of right in the House of Lords (the 'bishops' bench').
Less than 1% of the population in England regularly attend CofE church services.
In a video on Twitter accompanying the petition (pictured), Toksvig said: "There are only two countries in the world where representatives of the state religion automatically get a seat in the legislature. They are the UK and Iran.
"A curious and indeed uncomfortable club of two to belong to."
She also commented on the bishops' opposition to legalising same-sex marriage, and the Church's exemptions from equality law which allow them to discriminate against LGBT people and women.
She added: "Of course everyone in there is entirely free to think as they please. What they should not be allowed to do is to hold sway in our House, the Houses of Parliament.
"It doesn't matter what your faith is, or even isn't, it's discriminatory and it has to stop."
Toksvig has been one of the Church's most prominent critics since archbishop Justin Welby reaffirmed the CofE's opposition to same-sex relationships in August.
She said in an open letter to Welby that the lives of LGBT+ people are at stake, pointing to higher rates of suicide among LGBT+ young people and the death threats she had received from evangelical Christians.
Following a meeting with Welby last month to discuss the issue, she concluded: "It was very clear that opposing factions of the worldwide Anglican Communion are being, in part, held together at the expense of the human rights of the LGBT+ community".
Welby is reported to have said he would "rather see the Church of England lose its privileged status" as the established church than split the Anglican communion over the issue of same-sex marriage. The comments are said to have been made in a private meeting between the archbishop and a number of MPs.
NSS 'fully supports' petition
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "We fully support Sandi Toksvig's message and her petition to remove the bishops from the House of Lords.
"We've long argued the Church's unjust and unfair privileges should be removed.
"And now, with Christians being a minority in England and Wales, and the Church growing increasingly out-of-step on social issues, the need to end the Church's privileged place in parliament is more crucial than ever.
"As Sandi Toksvig herself said: Iran and the UK - time to make that a club of one."
You can sign Sandi Toksvig's petition here. Please also send a letter to your MP calling for the removal of the bishops.
We are holding a free event on separation of church and state this February - click here for more information and to book your place.
Bishops’ bench representative protests Labour’s House of Lords plan
Posted: Tue, 13 Dec 2022 08:14
An Anglican bishop has protested plans to reform the House of Lords which could abolish reserved seats for Church of England representatives.
Writing in Church Times last week, the bishop of St Albans Alan Smith (pictured) criticised a recent report by the Labour Party calling for the House of Lords to be replaced with an elected second chamber.
He expressed concerns that the report makes "no mention of the historic and enduring links between the Crown, Church, and Parliament which make up so much of our living constitutional arrangement".
He added: "These are serious omissions, which I hope the authors will reflect on".
Smith is the convenor of the Lords Spiritual, also known as the 'bishops' bench', who are the 26 Church of England bishops given seats as of right in the House of Lords. The convenor represents the bishops to the other parties and groupings in the Lords.
Bishop of Oxford Steven Croft also expressed opposition to an elected chamber, and concerns over the lack of mentions of religion in the report.
The report by the Commission of the UK's Future, which was set up by Gordon Brown and makes 40 recommendations for constitutional change, proposes to abolish "the current undemocratic House of Lords" and replace it with "a democratic chamber that is permanently closer to the British people".
The report makes no direct mention of the bishops' bench, but it says the new chamber "must have electoral legitimacy". A chamber with seats assigned to religious representatives would be unlikely to meet this requirement.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said his party would aim to implement these reforms "as quickly as possible", ideally within its first term.
The UK is unique among Western democracies in giving representatives of religious groups automatic seats in its legislature. A poll last year found most Brits think the bishops' bench should be abolished.
NSS: "The bishops' bench has no place in a modern democracy"
NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: "The bishop's opposition to plans for a more democratic second chamber reveal how self-serving the Lords Spiritual are.
"Under Labour's plans, it is inconceivable that the bishops' bench could remain part of the legislature, because it is one of the most archaic, undemocratic and unjustifiable groupings in the House of Lords. Alan Smith, and the bishops in the Lords he represents, know this – hence his opposition to such reforms.
"Whether the House of Lords is abolished entirely, replaced or reformed, there should be no reserved seats for religious clerics.
"The bishops' bench has no place in a modern democracy – let alone a largely irreligious and religiously-diverse country where Christians are now the minority."
