Bloody bishops

Bishops should be history. As a matter of fact, they are largely history, their present odd, anachronistic and arbitrary status being very largely the legacy of the shrewd political brain of Elizabeth l. Identifying modern bishops with those who emerged in New Testament times, and who were even beginning to strut around a bit by the end of the lst Century, rests on faith alone. An ex work colleague of mine part-timed as the secretary of an area official of the Baptist church, who appeared to do much the same job as a bishop, but without the silly costume and fuss.

- 17th June comment on ‘Ditch the bossy-boot bishops’ in online ‘Guardian’.