Women Bishops

... are currently being debated in General Synod. There is a problem with accepting them, because there are parts of the church who find the idea to be completely unacceptable. There are some for whom accepting a woman as a bishop is beyond the realms of reasonableness. I don't have a problem with them as such, they have their point of view, and all points of view should be considered.

But there are also those in the church who have a problem with the way things are now. So why is it that there position is not taken into account as well? Why is it that the minority whose opinion must be considered is the minority who wants to retain the status quo? Why not the majority who want a change - why is it that they just have to accept the way things are, and the traditionalists don't have to accept that things change?

But I think the issue is more potent than that even. The church is, as has been said, an organisation for the benefit of the non-members. So why do we not let non-members have a majority say in what the church does? If we genuinely believe that church exists as a missionary organisation, as an organisation for others, as an organisation for the non-members, then why do we insist that the people who make the most important decisions are those who are the most churched people we can find?

I believe that we should ask those who are not members of the church to have their say in what we should do. I believe, actually, that we should involve those who are not members of the church in a whole lot of our decision making, at the local level as well - I am not just arguing for others only to have to work with this. And if we want to know whether we should have women bishops, how about asking the general populace, not just the synod.