"their intention to propose jointly in due course an amendment to the draft legislation to enable women to become bishops in the Church of England due to be debated at General Synod in July."The tyranny of the majority:
Successive General Synod debates have produced clear majorities in favour of admitting women to the episcopate in the Church of England. At the same time, a number of motions have also shown a widespread desire to proceed in a way that will maintain the highest possible degree of communion within the Church of England between those who differ on the substantive point...How, pray tell?
Once women become bishops, it will be possible to maintain something like the present 'mixed economy' in the Church of England only if there is provision for someone other than the diocesan bishop to provide episcopal oversight for those who are unable to accept the new situation.Thence follows a long, opaque and muddled-headed contrivance by which the archbishops hope to maintain the "mixed economy." It will prove as brilliant a success as "mixed economies" of free markets and socialism are lately showing themselves to be in Europe and the United States.
Since the archbishops seem fond of economic metaphor, they might consider the counsel proffered by the financier Thomas Gresham (1519-1579) to the first Queen Elizabeth after she succeeded to the throne. Gresham wrote her that "good and bad coin cannot circulate together," referring to the "unexampled state of badness" of the English currency following the "Great Debasements" of (and do note the irony) Henry VIII and Edward VI. The same may be said for religious doctrine.
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