"Why do you say that Jim?"
A long accepted fact Keith - the Church of England has always been described as "The Tory Party at Prayer"
Certainly of my invention, if that is what ou are suggesting.
- their presence is purely a political one and always has been.
In the past, it has been used to divert the public's attention from crises, to validate colonisation, to send Brtitan's youth to their deaths "For God, King and Country"
There is simply no other reason for Churchmen to play any part in the House of Lords - they have no expertise outside their own particular field
Up to The French Revolution France divided the country into "The Three Estates (or Powers)", which were the clergy (first estate), the nobility (second estate), and commoners (third estate) (in Britain, a (fourth estate) was added, the news media.
There has never been any doubt about the political role of the church - today, the pretence of it being "the will of the people" has disappeared with the dwindling support of the Church (didn't think for a minute that you would respond to the fact that only one in ten of Britons support the church).
Nor did I think that you would offer an explanation of why the Church should play any part in the governance of Britain.
Jim Carroll