"The House of Lords still needs a few well-behaved bishops" , indeed it does . If only to help counter the few bishop bashers already there .
Henry Fowler is correct about mankind not needing religion as an excuse for harm. However it appears to have been the most convenient for many centuries .

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,

Religious leader from whatever religion should not be part of the House of Lords. Let them preach their mumbo jumbo to those that want to listen, but they must not have a voice in the running of the state.

Charlie, Munich,

We don't need religious laws, or religious lawmakers.

If you can't give a sensible reasoned argument for a law instead of only doing it because your imaginary friend in the sky wants it, then shut up & let the grownups talk.

Don't try to impose it on those who don't share your superstition.

Jon, Winchester,

Why should the CofE be disestablished because followers of other faiths have migrated here? Everyone is free to follow their own faith so what is the problem? It's the usual liberal-left desire to eradicate the culture of the UK. We are already living in the resultant mess their achievements.

Lin, London, England

A good human being is worth a million well behaved bishops.

More of the former please.

Kazuki, Tokyo, Japan

Leon, Cornwall, wrote: "...religion...has caused more death, pain and suffering than anything else I know." Then you know very little, not least of mankind, which has never needed religion as an excuse to do harm to others. Twentieth century genocide and slaughter are testaments to atheism.

Henry Fowler, Northampton,

"Establishment is institutionalised religious discrimination"
Precisely why we should support it! "Discriminating" between options is a good thing not a bad thing. CofE is the least worst option compared to the rise of fundamentalist pressure groups that *could* be the result of disestablishment.

Daniel heslop, Bournemouth, UK

For goodness sake, why does the world persevere with religion of any kind,it has caused more death,pain,and suffering than anything else i know.If everyone was to keep his or her own God private to themselves we would all get along much better.You don`t have to belong to a religion to do good deeds!

Leon Wagstaff, Cornwall, UK

The CoE is the established church of England, not of the UK. It's position is thus doubly discriminatory - not only are its privileges denied to other religions in England, they are denied to ALL religions in Scotland, Wales and NI. United Kingdom? Feh.

Andrew Gallagher, Galway,

I'm a Secularist, but even I can see that the bog standard CofE is about as benign a religion as we could hope for. To open up the Monarchy to the far more fanatical, prejudical and hardline religions such as Catholicism or Islam is a big mistake!

Dave , Stoke, UK

The Church of England represents England only (and not Wales, Scotland and N Ireland). Why should only English bishops get to sit in the House of Lords?
Anyway, there are more Catholics than Anglicans now.

ben foster, wokingham,

Very poor arguments. The bishops provide a religious touchstone, not a moral one - morality and religion are not the same. And the political establishment of the Church has no bearing whatsoever on Christians volunteering for charity work.

Also, what does Melanie think the word "inchoate" means?

Liam, Stoke, UK

"And that bears out a Home Office citizenship survey showing that the religiously observant are 48 per cent more likely than the uncommitted to engage in regular voluntary work."

religiously observant = Church of England and only Church of England? I don't think so. The CoE is a dying sect.

Rob, London,

It's impossible to answer this in 300 characters. Inchoate? Perhaps you mean "ineffable?" And why is establishment necessary for charitable work?

Establishment is institutionalised religious discrimination. The state should be religiously neutral, ie secular.

Norman, Anstruther, United Kingdom