The belief that God is going to look after us without us doing anything is not faith: it is superstition

Darryl Gray, St Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition, BBC News at 10, 20 May

This was an egregious mistake. . . The BBC is an essential part of our culture and its freedoms. See that it learns, improve it, hold it to account. But don’t destroy it. Look elsewhere to see cultures where all media is partisan. Do we really want that?

Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool, on the Dyson report about Martin Bashir’s interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, on Twitter, 21 May

When we started this project the subject of CDM [the Clergy Discipline Measure] was unspeakable, untouchable — a hot potato — and the fear was palpable. We hope our work has cut the CDM down to a size you can now handle more safely. There was no one else to start this work because of our unique vantage point, trusted position, lay status and a healthy dose of sheer bloody-mindedness. We trust and pray that together you will go on and finish the task — together you will be unstoppable. We wish you well.

The Sheldon community, signing off from its campaign to reform clergy discipline in the Church of England, 25 May

We are reminding the Government of the importance we place on singing to lift our prayers to God, and look ahead to step four and the enabling of the singing of choirs and congregations to fill our churches and cathedrals once more

Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, 24 May

Sensible & balanced decision not to remove the Rhodes statue from Oriel College, Oxford — because we should learn from our past, rather than censoring history, and continue focusing on reducing inequality

Gavin Williamson, Education Secretary, 20 May

Surely what we learn here is that our forebears put up a statue to the wrong guy. If I cooked an inedible meal to my Grandparents’ recipe I wouldn’t need to force it down every day in order to learn from their mistake

Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool, on Twitter, 21 May

I am appointed by God. If they want me to stand down, they should go to a church and pray instead of protesting in front of the courthouse

Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa since 1988, contesting an election defeat in April

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