THERE are 44 diocesan bishops in the Anglican Church, currently 26 can sit in the House of Lords - although none are elected. A recent poll (10/11/ March 2010, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust), found that 70 per cent of Christians, and 75 per cent of the wider public favoured their removal.
These unelected 'Princes of the Church', have input into all major legislation in this country. For example, they defeated the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, despite the fact this proposed legislation had the support of 80 per cent of the general public.
So who do these strangely garbed gentlemen in their swirling dresses and lace-edged chemises actually represent? On an average Sunday in Britain, about one million Anglican devotees worship at the state funded shrines and churches: this figure represents just two per cent of the population.
Surely democracy now demands the complete removal of these clerico- fossils from the political process: after all, who exactly are they?
LARRY WRIGHT Burford Avenue Swindon
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