[Acrylic-bob]

Currently, 26 Lords Spiritual, sit in the house of Lords and are able to vote on legislation affecting all of us and the way in which we lead our lives.

These men, all of them unelected, are representatives of the Church of England. Add to this the clergy of other faith groups (the Chief Rabbi, Methodists etc.) elevated to the House of Lords as Lords Temporal and there are quite a few more; oddly there are no Roman Catholics though.

It may dismay some to learn that the Lords Spiritual were among the fiercest opponents of extending the franchise to Women, and that their current number also sit on the Synod of the Church of England which is unable to decide to what extent the sin of being homosexual disbars a person from being able to enjoy the rights and privileges taken for granted by the rest of society.

I find it strange and ironic that the adherants of a faith whose central tennet is freedom of will are among the most proscriptive, repressed and repressive people in our society.