Scrap the bishops’ bench

Support the campaign of the National and Leicester Secular Societies.

End the archaic, unfair and undemocratic bishops’ bench in the House of Lords.

CAMPAIGN ALERT! Support the Hereditary Peers Bill amendment!

Gavin Williamson MP has tabled an amendment to the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, which would remove the automatic seats for bishops in the Lords. We need your help - ask your MP to support the amendment.

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!

 

ukhouseoflords, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons