Church of England delays vote on women bishops

The Church of England’s General Synod has decided to delay a final vote on allowing women to become bishops until a meeting in London this November.

Proposed legislation on July 9 at the General Synod, the church’s governing body, would have created a two-tier system in which female bishops and men who ordained women or who had been ordained by women would fall under a separate category.

The House of Bishops had introduced an amendment in which a church that objected to the authority of a woman could request a male replacement. Senior Anglican campaigners condemned the amendment, saying it would have legitimized discriminatory laws in the United Kingdom.