Performative transparency

The House of Bishops stunningly opens its once private doors, but is it all actually a trap? And are Christians still welcome in the Liberal Democrats?

Hello! We’re back from a week off with another bumper edition of the newsletter today, beginning with a very surprising move by bishops in the Church of England. Just a few months after weathering massive criticism for sticking by their policy of banning the press and public from their meetings, the House of Bishops very unexpectedly did open their doors for the first time in living memory so we could eavesdrop on a debate. The issue under discussion was the separate (but maybe actually related) crisis over how new bishops are appointed, in a process increasingly being torn apart by the church’s divisions over gay blessings.

Then we consider the disappointing intervention into said gay blessing ruckus by perhaps the leading church historian of the age, and wonder if we’ll ever get out of the trenches in this culture war. And finally, a Christian who was forced out of his gig running to be a Liberal Democrat MP is suing the party for religious discrimination, and some slightly explosiv…