On the 9th May 2013 the Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Revd Michael Langrish responded to the Queen’s Speech addressing his remarks to devolution, community cohesion, and the need to address the increasing London-centric bias of policy making. Bishop Michael used the Church of England as an example of a way to successfully balance competing interests to create a sense of cohesion and mutual belonging in our society.
Author: parliamentaryunit
Bishop of Lichfield responds to the Queens Speech addressing Immigration, Asylum & Home Affairs
On the 9th May 2013 the Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill spoke in the debate responding to the Queen’s Speech. Bishop Jonathan addressed the areas of immigration and asylum reform along with a range of other areas relating to his interests in Home Affairs. Concluding his remarks the bishop reminded the House of the importance of ensuring a unified society, adopting polices which do not disproportionately impact those least able to make choices for themselves.
Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill – Church gives evidence to MPs on Public Bill Committee
On 12th February 2013 the House of Commons Public Bill Committee scrutinising the Government’s Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill heard evidence from witnesses from the Church of England. The Bishop of Norwich, Rt Revd Graham James, Secretary General of the Synod, William Fittall and Deputy Legal Adviser, Revd Alexander McGregor, all appeared before the Committee. Gary Streeter MP chaired the session. A transcript of their evidence is below: Continue reading “Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill – Church gives evidence to MPs on Public Bill Committee”
Archive speeches: James Jones, Hillsborough and Justice for the 96
“If members of our family had died on 15 April 1989, we would not have wanted to wait 23 years until truth could call out for justice.” – Rt Rev James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, 11/12/12
Continue reading “Archive speeches: James Jones, Hillsborough and Justice for the 96”
Justin Welby’s maiden speech in the House of Lords
On 16th May 2012 the House of Lords debated the proposals in the Queen’s Speech for business and the economy. The debate heard the maiden speech of Rt Revd Justin Welby, who as the recently appointed Bishop of Durham, had been introduced to the Lords on 12th January 2012. The text of his speech is below, with extracts of comments by Peers.
The Lord Bishop of Durham: My Lords, I am astonished to be here for two reasons. First, I am astonished that I am here at all. Secondly, I am astonished at the warm welcome that I have received, for which I very much thank your Lordships and all the staff and people who work in this place, who deal very adequately with Bishops wandering around, bleating miserably that they are lost—or, at least, this particular Bishop. It has been a great privilege to have found myself helped in so many ways. I am also grateful to the noble Baronesses, Lady Wilcox and Lady Royall, for their warm welcome today. I look forward to hearing the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Ashton of Hyde, a little later. Continue reading “Justin Welby’s maiden speech in the House of Lords”
Giving to Caesar, Giving to God: Rowan Williams’ address at the service for the new Parliament, June 2010
“There is the big picture for every politician who seeks to be more than a mere manager of the state’s business, a part of the mechanism of collecting Caesar’s taxes. Good government from a Christian point of view is about the acknowledgement and reinforcement of human dignity.”- Rowan Williams, 8/6/10
On 8th June 2010, shortly after the General Election, a service was held for the new Parliament in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster. The audience, comprised largely of MPs, Peers and parliamentary staff, heard the Archbishop of Canterbury deliver a sermon on Matthew 22: 16-21: Continue reading “Giving to Caesar, Giving to God: Rowan Williams’ address at the service for the new Parliament, June 2010”
Archive speeches: Bishop Tom Wright – ‘The constitution is far more important than party politics.’
“Voting matters, but doing the job matters even more. The belief that only elected Members can have any sort of legitimacy, or that once someone has won a vote it gives them carte blanche to do whatever they like for the next five years, rings extremely hollow when it is precisely some of the elected Members in another place who have brought the system into disrepute. Our whole political system has encouraged career politicians who have never run a farm or a shop or a school or a ship, and who lurch from utopianism, which gets most of them into politics in the first place, to pragmatic power-seeking, which is what they turn to when Utopia fails to arrive on schedule.” – Bishop of Durham, 11/6/09 Continue reading “Archive speeches: Bishop Tom Wright – ‘The constitution is far more important than party politics.’”
Archive: Rt Rev John Gladwin speech in Lords on moral corruption of increasing national and personal debt
“at the same time as we are counselling people not to take on unsustainable debt, the Treasury is proposing to let the national debt free of past restraints. It seems that there is one rule for citizens and another for public authorities. That is the moral corruption of a time such as this.” – Rt Rev John Gladwin, 3/11/08
Archive speech: Rowan Williams vs the Supercasino
“Institutions that can encourage criminality and intensify irresponsibility are poor allies of social and civic regeneration.” – Most Rev and Rt Hon Rowan Williams, 28/3/07
In March 2007 the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke out in the House of Lords against the proposal to issue a licence for a new kind of ‘supercasino’ in Manchester. In the subsequent vote he and two other bishops voted against; the proposal to issue the licence being rejected by majority of three. When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister a few months later the plan to pilot the supercasino was scrapped. Continue reading “Archive speech: Rowan Williams vs the Supercasino”
Archive speeches: Rowan Williams on Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill
“what will we be heard to be saying about the worthwhileness of life under certain conditions? Do we, by legally accommodating the mental suffering of some, debase the currency for all? These are not trivial considerations; nor are they parochially religious ones.” – Rowan Williams, 12/5/06
On 12th May 2006 the House of Lords debated a Private Members’ Bill from Lord Joffe: the ‘Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill’. The then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was one of three Lords Spiritual who spoke against, in a debate that lasted over seven hours and featured 90 speakers.
The Bill would have allowed a doctor to prescribe medication upon request from a terminally ill patient with capacity, so that by means of self-administration, that patient could end his or her life.
Following the debate a vote took place on whether to allow the Bill to proceed any further. Peers voted to not allow it to proceed by 148 to 100. 14 Lords Spiritual joined those voting against the Bill.
A transcript of the Archbishop’s speech follows:
The Archbishop of Canterbury: My Lords, opposition to the principle of this Bill is not confined to people of religious conviction—as we have been reminded by the noble, monotheistic and utilitarian Lord, Lord Carlile—and it would be a lazy counter-argument to suggest that such opposition can be written off because it comes only from those committed to a world view not universally shared. It is worth remembering that the secular or “enlightened” view of human autonomy assumed by many of the Bill’s defenders is no less a particular world view rather than a self-evident and universal truth. Continue reading “Archive speeches: Rowan Williams on Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill”
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