Women Bishops - synod rejects again

Just a thought!

If we consider the C of E as a company and the Bishops and Clery as directors voting in favour of this propostion for the benefit of that company, would they really take into consideration the thoughts of a few employees? I think not.

Perhaps those against the idea should join another firm where a 'no women in position of authority' policy reins.

flump Bishops, Clergy and Laity are all on the "board of directors" in your analogy. Some have already (nearly 20 years ago) joined another "firm" – Roman Catholicism – many of them former C of E clergy plus Anne Widdecombe.

Totally agree with the foregoing comments. The outcome for the church and women is disastrous. Where is the logic that says a small vociferous minority can govern and control the majority. Where would the church today be without women, and I don't mean cleaning and flowers although I have done that in my time. The advent of women priests has been nothing but good there is absolutely no biblical reason why women should not be ordained to the highest office in the C of E. The Synod has laid itself wide open to a legal challenge on equality (if parliament remove their protection from this legislation) and worse really it has devalued and downgraded women in the UK.

I don't feel devalued and degraded - the opinions of a bunch of religious bigots mean nothing whatsoever to me. I just hope this accelerates the ousting of bishops of any gender from the House of Lords. A glance at the census figures on religious affiliation soon shows that there is no mandate for them to be playing any part in the legislative process.

OK absent, perhaps not quite right re company.

I know that this isn't the way it's done but why cannot they have a 2/3 majority vote overall instead of in each house. I read the total vote was 324 for to 123 against (inluding abstentions). Therefore a vote of 298 would have been enough to have women bishops.

Bags Did you mean to type...pompous twats? Twits seems a bit mild to me.

...off to wash my mouth out

I heard on the radio that one of the Arch Bishops has launched an online petition to dissolve the Synod (at least I think that's what they said, I was trying to overtake a wobbly cyclist at the time)

Yes, I did, soop. Sorry for the typo

Naughty giggles from Kintyre.

Well I must say, it's the first time I've seen atheists rationalists and church goers so united!
Mind you, I totally agree with you all!

Don't really know what the fuss is about . Dress them up in the same clothes copes mitres etc and you can't tell what sex they are apart from the dangly earrings and the occasional beard.if you remember that Henry VIII was the founder of the Cof E then really he was not very fond of some women when they disagreed with him.

But he only went all C of E when the Catholic church wouldn't let him divorce, so it could be said that he did it because of a woman.

I must admit that I'm no fan of organised religion, I have privately held beliefs that perhaps don't fit into any particular section, but I do think that to make this type of ruling based on gender is unacceptable in the 21st century.

It is the principle! That such an organisation which, whether we agree with it, approve of it or not, holds such a position in our society and politics, can appear to reject women as worthy of high office is appalling.

It has, as was said in The Times today, put itself in the position of the Labour party when it allowed a vocal minority to hold sway, while the middle of the road majority did not rise to the occasion. The dioceses did not work hard enough to ensure the loonies (the evangelical right, I suppose) were kept under control.

I hold no particular brief for the CofE, but the wider implications of all this infuriate me.

How will the churches around the country cope with this disastrous result? There are so many diminishing elderly congregations now. What will this do to encourage young people to join the church, the clergy must be feeling desperate right now to try and explain.

Apparently, there were more women ordained than men last year, so they are going to run out of male candidates to be bishops eventually!

Serves them right!

It's odd really, when the C of E allowed women vicars, somebody in the village who I though of as quite rational stopped going to the service at the local church (where, incidentally her husband was church warden) and started going to RC services instead! Obviously she wouldn't have supported the current debate.

My ex was an Anglican priest for six years.We left the church over 30 yrs.ago
If we hadn't done so I would certainly be leaving now after this decision on women bishops.
Unbelievable!!!

DH pointed out, quite rightly, that the anti brigade did a fantastic PR job - nearly ever person they fielded to the media on this issue was a woman!
jeni

Probably when they have a wealth of excellent women priests, they will have to appoint inferior men as bishops. Not that I have a stake in the matter, as a renegade Church of Scotland humanist.

The ghastly Anne Atkins has just been pontificating on This Week. She was unable to say why the C of E should be exempt from equality laws as far as the House of Lords is concerned.

The C of E has done nothing to make atheists and agnostics think again, has it? I know it is the laity not the clergy who have let women down this time, but who would want to sit in a congregation with such anti-feminist women. They are definitely the 'Auntie Toms' of the women's movement.

Anne Atkins has a balmy way of constructing her argument. She explains that 'it's like being in a family. If one person isn't happy about how things are going, we'll wait until they are.' No, it's not like being in a family, Anne. It's like being in an outdated club where women are not accorded their rights in law! Get a grip you stupid woman. You are letting the side down!