A RELIGIOUS ELECTION

Two of my recent posts have been on religion and elections. The two came together yesterday.

At issue was whether the Anglican Church in the U.K. would allow women bishops. These are already present in other Protestant churches (such as the Danish Lutheran); and 29 of them have been consecrated in other parts of the Anglican Communion such as the United States and New Zealand, of which 23 are currently active. The Church of England has permitted women priests since 1994, but bishops are the real deal, not least because they run the show. 324 voted for the measure, and only 122 against, so presumably bishops are now allowed, right?

Wrong. The general synod of the Church of England votes in three separate houses; bishops, clergy and laity. Each house has to pass the measure in order for it to go through. Furthermore, a "pass" requires a two thirds majority rather than the normal 50%. In the House of Bishops, the vote was 44 in favour, with 3 against and 2 abstentions; and in the House of Clergy it was 148 in favour versus 45 against. The problem was in the House of Laity, where the vote was 132 in favour versus 74 against. A substantial majority, but six votes shy of the two thirds required.

Both the current and future Archbishops of Canterbury support the principle of women bishops; backed by an almost unanimous House of Bishops, this means that the issue is not going to go away. However, having been defeated, the measure can't come back to the synod for the remainder of the current synod's term; which means 2015 at the earliest. And when it eventually does, the synod will still have to deal with an extremely hostile and motivated minority in the House of Laity who are against women bishops on principle, either because they make potential reunion with the (all-male) Roman Catholic church even harder, or because they believe that the Bible rules them out. Finessing this pickle will be the new Archbishop's number one headache.

Left to one side in the fall-out is why an institution has such complex and strange voting arrangements, which leave it hostage to an uncompromising minority that is resistant to change. China's unanimous voting system is looking less bizarre by the day.

Walter Blotscher