Leave the Church be - Telegraph On Tuesday evening, the General Synod of the Church of England voted overwhelmingly to approve the ordination of women bishops. However, due to the requirement that the measure win a two-thirds majority in each of the Synod's houses, that approval was not overwhelming enough. The result was an outpouring of anguish from the plan's supporters, both within and outside the Church. Commentators and politicians - including the Prime Minister - queued up to express their regret or their anger, with some suggesting that the Church had somehow proved itself unfit for the modern world, or to be the state religion of a modern, civilised country. It is at this point that we need to take a deep breath. The purpose of the Church is not to accommodate the demands of secular society; its duty is to a higher power. Nor were those who opposed the measure the zealots or dinosaurs of caricature. The debate was anguished, compassionate and reasoned. Those who voted no knew that they were going against the grain of modernity, and the exhortations of their leaders. But they had scrutinised conscience and Scripture, and could not bring themselves to vote otherwise. The suggestion is now being made - especially on the Left - that Parliament should intervene, perhaps by removing the religious exemptions from equality laws, or by legislating directly. But as with the current debate over the media, MPs should think carefully before claiming more power over other institutions. The laws that govern the Established Church are explicitly constituted so that Parliament can only reject the Synod's decisions, rather than amend them, precisely to avoid such political interference in matters of faith. The Church of England has certainly landed itself in a mess - but it is for the Church itself, not high-minded outsiders, to fix it.