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General Synod - Summary of Business Conducted on Tuesday 12th February 2008 PM

12 February 2008

 

The Synod continued with the legislative business it began during the morning session.

 

DRAFT ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICES (TERMS OF SERVICE) REGULATIONS

The Regulations were debated and, without amendment, committed for final drafting.

 

DRAFT AMENDING CANON NO 29

The Canon was debated and, without amendment, committed for final drafting.

 

Audio of sessions

 

PRIVATE MEMBER'S MOTION: CASINOS

Following debate, Mr Thomas Benyon (Oxford) moved the following amended motion, which was carried by the Synod by 258 votes to 4 (with 9 recorded abstentions).

'That this Synod, gravely concerned that the total national spend on gaming has risen in each year over the past four years from £4 to £40 billion:

(a) endorse the public opposition expressed by church leaders to the introduction of regional and large casinos, and encourage local churches to participate in local authority consultations on plans for new casino applications;

(b) declare its support for programmes of education, research and treatment undertaken with the aim of checking the growth in problem gaming, and request the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to invoke the powers granted by the Gambling Act 2005 to introduce a statutory levy on the gambling industry to fund such programmes;

(c) call upon Her Majesty's Government to monitor the addictive effects of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals and to seek an international framework for a code of conduct on internet gambling; and

(d) call upon the Mission and Public Affairs Council to report back to Synod by February 2009 on measures being taken by the churches to combat the detrimental effects of gambling in various forms.'

 

Audio of session

 

PRIVATE MEMBER'S MOTION: BIBLE AVAILABILITY

Following debate, Mr Timothy Cox (Blackburn) moved the following amended motion, which was overwhelmingly carried by the Synod.

'That this Synod, believing in the importance of Scripture, desire that anyone entering a church building or attending a church service should have easy and unfettered access one of the versions of the Bible referred to in the note by the House of Bishops on Versions of Scripture dated 9th October 2002 or one of the versions of the Bible that may be used by virtue of the Prayer Book Versions of the Bible Measure, and would request all dioceses to take steps to give effect to this desire in their churches.'

 

Audio of session