I see the bishops have been stirring it up again, this time on the issue of allowing civil partnerships to be conducted on religious premises. They’re pushing for a change in the Equality Bill currently before the House of Lords – the one they recently successfully changed on the issue of bringing equal opportunity rights into employment issues in churches. They didn’t like that change as it would have forced...

Government plans to pass an Equality Bill through the House of Lords failed this week when strong objections were made by an on behalf of Christian churches. The Bishops were especially vocal apparently as were many Conservatives. Indeed the Conservative Party officially opposed aspects of the Bill. Objections were raised because of the fear that churches and other Christian organisations could have been prosecuted for refusing to employ people on grounds of sexuality. While priests and pasto...