Women Bishops? What's yor view?

[combust22]

A vote in the Church of England today will decide whether to allow women to become bishops.

Should this happen?

I'm quite confused about how women not being bishops affects millions of women not in the church, seeing as the primary roles of a bishop is the pastoral care of clergy and overseeing the running of a diocese. That smacks of hyperbole to me.

There are seats in the House of Lords held by Bishops.
The CofE has influence over admissions to many schools.
The CofE is listened-to by the media.
The CofE may influence individual government ministers
The CofE may influence prominent members of the royal family, some of whom we know attempt to influence the course of government.

Guess those things will be acceptable if some are the bishops are women

I don't think that influence is necessarily a bad thing, but it would definitely be better if the leadership of that powerful organisation contained people of both genders. :)

Bishops and CofE generally definitely have influence beyond the church itself, especially when church is still an established one as others have said.

I should think they could be challenged on the seats for bishops in the Lords (as things stand ie. male bishops only) using equality legislation

I'm hoping for a yes vote.

I think voting is about to begin...

They're voting now.

Come on Synod #voteyes

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!

#Synod Women Bishops Vote:

Bishops 37 for 2 against 1 abstain
Clergy 162 for 25 against 4 abstain
Laity 152 for 45 against 5 abstain

Motion passed

:) :) :) :)

Hurrah!

clinks glasses while dancing

Good stuff. I'm a very committed atheist and would happily see the back of religion but this is good news for Christians. Enjoy your celebrations!

Thankyou lotta

Think it will be a celebratory evening...

Brilliant news.

Indeed it will. I'm going to a governors meeting at school, first since our very recent Ofsted we went from inadequate to good with outstanding features yippee -- so a double celebration!

I think it's great that the CofE has finally accepted it was on the wrong side of history on the matter of female leaders. It's nice that it's managed to drag itself into the 20th Century at last.

I wonder how long it will take before it realises it's on the wrong side of history about same-sex marriage too.

I am c of e and very pleased this has gone through. Slowly but surely they are starting to move towards the 21st century

as a feminist, atheist and ex-catholic I rejoice. At least there's movement in the right direction.

However it is bittersweet. I cannot believe there was even a need for a debate. I cannot even believe that parishes can choose not to have a woman priest. Could they choose not to have one for any other reasons? Say disability or race?

Pleased to find this out from you all here

Told the dc and dd said she thought I was going to say equal marriage.
ds was shocked cannot marry in church if you're gay. Isn't that where you get married? (he said) So explained you can get married in lots of places these days.
Explained at one time some people were only able to get married in a registry office not in church (so not so much choice, though some are nice) including people getting married for a second time.

Then dd and ds laughed at CofE because they reckoned it only exists because Henry VIII wanted to get a divorce and marry someone else.

So, consensus on women bishops was rather "about time" & "haven't they done that already?" then on to other issues ...

Think CofE still have a lot of catching up to do in DC's eyes!

I seem to be replying to all the religious threads today. A bit dangerous on MN. But I am glad to see women allowed to be bishops. At the same time from a different perspective, I don't think power is a good thing for a Christian.

YAYYYYYYAYYYAYAYAYAAYAY

[joins in happy dance with MHD, niminy, greenheart, et al.]

[dance] [dance] [fall over]

Happy dance!

I didn't believe it even when I saw the voting figures.

I'm just back from a bereavement visit so pretty shattered but I'll have that or maybe two

I am Roman Catholic. A Christian. I too hope my own community will see that inclusion is essential and I congratulate the Church of England in being at the forefront of this necessary step. I am delighted to be part of my church and encourage my children to have open views. I so want to see faith as part of future society and it needs to reflect us, that society

My DMIL always used to say "like a mighty tortoise moves the church of God. Brothers we are standing where we've always stood."

Well just for once, sisters the church has moved a tiny bit in the right direction!