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Saturday, November 24, 2012

Church challenged in Parliament over women bishops

The Church of England was faced with difficult questions in the House of Commons after failing to pass legislation that would have allowed women to be bishops.

Legislation was defeated by just six votes in the Church's parliamentary body, the General Synod this week.

Despite receiving the majority of Synod votes, the legislation fell because it could not secure the required two-thirds majority from the laity.

The Church was forced to address the issue in Parliament in response to an urgent question tabled by Labour MP Diana Johnson.

She told MPs that the Church was being "held to ransom by a few narrow minds".

"There should be no stained-glass ceiling for women in our church," she said.

"The Church of England now stands to be left behind by the society it seeks to serve, looking outdated, irrelevant, and frankly eccentric by this decision." Read now
"If the Church of England wants to be a national church, then it has to reflect the values of the nation."

If the Church of England wishes to remain a Christian church, it must embody the teaching of Scripture. The time may have come to pursue the disestablishment of the Church of England if it is to remain faithful to that teaching.

The governance of the Church of England was originally modeled upon that of the Swiss Reformed Churches, exclusive of Geneva. Simply put, the magistrate governed the church and appointed its pastors. The church, in turn, served as the conscience of the magistrate. In the case of the Church of England the magistrate was the reigning English monarch.

The English parliament has gradually replaced the English monarch in the role of magistrate. The church also no longer serves as the conscience of the magistrate. Rather the magistrate serves as his own conscience. Hence the insistence that the church reflect the values of the prevailing culture. Whatever the culture accepts, the church must embrace too.

The church, however, would cease to truly be the church if it adopts this view and ceased from upholding Scriptural teaching.

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