More hypocritical MPs

In this post I listed some MPs who are supporting the Campaign for Marriage's attempts to prevent equal marriage legislation.


Since then some more MPs have nailed their colours to the anti-equality mast. and yet again we find that some of them have personally struggled to live up to C4M's standard which is

"I support the legal definition of marriage which is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others."

Therese Coffey, Robert Halfon, Alec Shelbrooke & Nicola Blackwood have yet to tie the knot. As they have similar views perhaps they could form two couples?

Geoffrey Clinton Brown and Eleanor Laing failed at 'for life' aspect and are both divorced.

Laurence Roberson hasn't got divorced yet but it hasn't stopped him shacking up with his new partner.

Andrew Turner appears to have formed a voluntary union with his partner but forgot to actually get married, doh.

The undoubted star of this batch is Roger Gale currently on his third wife. [insert your own cheap 'Roger' Joke here]

However I have to give an honourable mention to Jacob Rees Mogg. As far as I am aware he is happily married but his father in law . Wow!




 Once again, I am more than happy to blame Wikipedia and amend any errors.

God - The Psychopath test

When it comes to God's mental disorders multiple personality disorder (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) is a given. Having been introduced to Robert D. Hare's Psychopathy Check list through Jon Ronson's excellent book, I thought I would try it out to see whether he was a psychopath as well.

The check list consists of 20 personality traits. The subject scores 0, 1 or 2 points on each. A normal person will end up with around 5 points out of the 40 possible. A psychopath 30 or more.

God's personality traits


1. GLIB and SUPERFICIAL CHARM -- Score 2 - Two billion follows attest to this one.

2. GRANDIOSE SELF-WORTH -- Score 2 - "Thou shalt have none other gods before me."

3. NEED FOR STIMULATION or PRONENESS TO BOREDOM -- Score 2 - Why else would he create life, the universe and everything?

4. PATHOLOGICAL LYING -- Score 2 - See 2chronicles 18:22  "behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets." He not only lies but made a special lying spirit.

5. CUNNING AND MANIPULATIVENESS- Score 2- See 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 "God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth."  

6. LACK OF REMORSE OR GUILT -- Score 2 - Wiped out the whole of civilisation apart from one family. Any sign of an apology?

7. SHALLOW AFFECT -- Score 2 - Happy to have Job's life ruined over a bet with Satan.

8. CALLOUSNESS and LACK OF EMPATHY -- Score 2 - Matthew 12:48 tells is the charming tale where Jesus refuses to see his mother "Who is my mother?" he chides.

9. PARASITIC LIFESTYLE -- Score 2 - Jesus went from town to town taking money from the poor.

10. POOR BEHAVIOURAL CONTROLS -- Score 2- You don't kill 2,552,451+ people without some control issue

11. PROMISCUOUS SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR -- Score 2- Getting another man's wife pregnant, come on.

12. EARLY BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS -- Score 2 - Jesus ran away from his parents on a trip to Jerusalem at the age of 12

13. LACK OF REALISTIC, LONG-TERM GOALS -- Score 2 - 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God'. Sorry it just isn't happening.

14. IMPULSIVITY -- Score 2 - Remember Jesus' meltdown at the temple?

15. IRRESPONSIBILITY -- Score 2 - Fancy giving all those biblical rules on keeping slaves. Of course people would follow them

16. FAILURE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR OWN ACTIONS -- Score 2 - Issiah 27:11 God will show no mercy to those who do not understand him. He clearly needs to realise that communication is a two way process.

17. MANY SHORT-TERM MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS -- Score 2 - Given we are told marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life any short term relationship is wrong. For abandoning Asherah, Yahweh picks up full points.

18. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY -- Score 2 - Running away and arguing with priests. 

19. REVOCATION OF CONDITION RELEASE -- Score  2 - Before  he was released from this mortal coil Jesus made a promise to return. Well.....

20. CRIMINAL VERSATILITY -- Score 2- Drowning, famine, smiting, burning, plague, buried alive, stoning, hanging, beheading & mutilation by bears. That is just how God killed children. Two is barely a high enough score for this one.



So it 40 out of 40. God is officially a psychopath. If you have read the bible you would probably have suspected as much but it is nice to have it confirmed.

Synod Fair

164 years ago the first college for women was founded

152 years ago women students were admitted to the Royal Academy

147 years ago women were allowed to become doctors

142 years ago women were allowed to own their own property

128 years ago women were allowed to attend lectures and take exams at Oxford university

128 years ago women were admitted into Royal Navy

96 years ago women were allowed to join the police

94 years ago women over 30 were allowed to vote

94 years ago women were allowed to stand for parliament

92 years ago women were allowed into the legal and accounting professions

89 years ago the grounds for divorce were equalised for men and women

84 years ago women were given same voting rights as men

54 years ago women were allowed to sit in the House of Lords

39 years ago women were admitted to the stock exchange

37 years ago the Sex discrimination Act came into being

23 years ago women were allowed to pilot combat aircraft

22 years ago women were allowed to serve on warships

Today the Church of England says it needs more time before it decides whether to stop discriminating against women.

Oh Lordy

The government recently published the House of Lords reform bill which proposes  radical changes to the Upper Chamber.  However, there is one area that remains unaltered: the unique privilege awarded to the Church of England. Although there will be a reduction in the number of free seats for the Lords Spiritual, (from 26 to 12)  this matches the overall cut in numbers to the Lords.

I am in favour of reforming the Lords but believe reform should include the removal of automatic representation for the Church of England (CofE). 

Currently, the Lords are split into Lords Spiritual (CofE Bishops) and Lords Temporal.  The Lords Spiritual are in the minority making up just 4% of the total.  Interestingly the 2007 Tearfund report on church attendance in the UK found that only 4% of the public regularly attend a CofE church. Church attendance is in decline and it is estimated that when the Lords transition is complete in 2025, church attendance will have dropped by a third.

If the Lords was set up for purely religious issues this proportion would  have been fair, five years ago.  In this scenario, in addition to the CofE bishops, there would be 72 leaders of other Christian religions, 39 leaders from other faiths, and 305 leading atheists. With 205 'cultural' Christians all 650 Lords would be Lords Spiritual and there would be no Lords Temporal! 


In reality, none of these other groups get free places and the House of Lords does not arbitrate spiritual disputes. The CofE representation is therefore totally inequitable and out of all proportion.


One would imagine that the Lords Spiritual would be amongst the hardest working of our peers, to show their appreciation for their privileged position. Well actually, they do very little in the House.

Reviewing the attendance records for bishops over the last three months,  they clocked up a total of 224 days  or  19.1% of the days they could have attended. Not only that, but their contribution to debate is poor and they only vote on 4.5% of issues. 

A clue as to why there is a huge mismatch between the attendance and voting can be found in the report of  the Joint Committee on the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill

"They attend as their episcopal duties allow and a rota system ensures that there is always at least one bishop in the House each day, to read prayers at the start of the day's business."

Essentially, the Bishops turn up to churn out their prayers, collect their expenses and leave.

It makes no sense to give the CofE disproportionate representation. They don't appear to be anything other than an expensive ceremonial throwback. This bill needs to be amended.   If you feel the same, you can pass on your thoughts on the matter to your MP at the Holy Redundant website.