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Didn't quite know where to place this thread, politics or religion seemed appropriate, so I've plumpted for religion.
I was watching a television program this morning discussing the recent decision by The Church of England not to allow the ordaining of women bishops. I found this to be quite an interesting program as it was like a talk show with lots of guests in support of the decision and even more against. I say interesting because it was, though in fairness I was pretty disinterested in the topic I was more curious about the arguments for and against as the issue had already been raised on "Question Time", the BBC's premier political debate program.
One of the things that was coming across loud and clear is that there seemed to be some genuine anger over the way the decision turned out. With most politians clearly in favour of the ordination of women bishops seeming to set the tone of the debate.
Whilst I have to say listening to some of the debate it did seem like some of the supporting arguments of this decision seemed pretty silly to me. They have, and have had for quite a while now, female vicars so why can't or shouldn't there be female bishops? Just daft really. How can they support a decision that means half of the population can't do a job because of their gender, during the debate it was suggested that being a bishop isn't actually a job but rather a calling from God, but ok fine if that's what they want to call it, I just wonder though why God would be any less likely to call upon a women. I mean really I honestly don't care who is or isn't a bishop, or any other church position for that matter, but on a fairness point of view I do believe in equal opportunities.
Seriously though some of these arguments were just silly. One of the problems though that we have with the Church of England in the UK is role the church plays within Government. Bishops sit within the second chamber (House of Lords), so they play a role in government. Which is again a bit of a problem in terms of equality, it doesn't seem right that any part of government should just be restricted to one gender. What was really interesting though was the points raised about this issue.
Firstly it was suggested that there should be a seperation of the church from the state, something I happen to think would certainly be a good idea, though this said it certainly doesn't solve the immediate problem of all those unhappy at the church rejecting women bishops.
Then there was a suggestion that the government should and could force the church to accept women bishops, now whilst on the debate there was a Labour MP (currently opposition to the government) who seemed most in favour of this option members of the church from both sides of the argument certainly were not, one member in favour of women bishops even went so far as to suggest that the politicians had been just waiting for this opportunity to get their hands on the church.
But another interesting point was also raised on the idea of equality about this, he asked if the Government were to go ahead and force gender equality upon The Church of England what about all the other religions in Britain. The discussion then turned to the idea of transgendered imams at which the idea seem to die out, as if suddenly it had become completely unworkable.
As I said ealier I'm not massively interested in the religious aspects of this discussion, but I think I do have a strong view on the wider ramifications for society in general and indeed the direction in which it is and should be heading.
What I think is that yes religion should be seperated from the government, it's out dated and there just isn't a place for it there any longer, we criticise other states whose governments have religious interference or undue influence, so it's about time we stopped being hypocrites.
Also the government should bring the church into line under the existing gender equality legislation, to ensure equality for all so that both men and women have equal opportunities. Furthermore they should bring all religions within the UK under the same legislation to ensure fairness and equality not just for men and women but also equality between all the religions and set the precedent that all religions are subservient and subject to the laws of the land.
Originally Posted by John Galt
