They may be found in every hotel bedroom, and are widely available in prisons and hospitals, but members of the clergy claim one of the last places you will find a Bible is in a church.<\/p>\n
The absence of the Word of God from the pews is of such concern to the Church of England that it is to debate the issue at the next meeting of its General Synod, or \u201cParliament\u201d\u009d, next month.<\/p>\n
The complaint was raised by Tim Cox, a Synod member from Blackpool, who said he had been dismayed to discover that churches he visited \u201call too often\u201d\u009d had no Bibles for worshippers to follow the readings and the sermon.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes they have the passages printed in their noticesheet, sometimes they even have bibles available – but have them locked away in a cupboard without the key being available,\u201d\u009d he said.<\/p>\n