Bishops should not have an automatic seat in the House of Lords, some MPs have said. 

At a debate in the Commons secured by the SNP's Tommy Shepherd, MPs heard arguments for and against bishops in the House of Lords. 

Sheppard, who is co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, argued that their presence was undemocratic and no longer appropriate in a country where a majority of people are not Anglican. 

"There are only two countries in the world where clerics are automatically guaranteed a place in the legislature. One is the United Kingdom, and the other is the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"The question before us is whether we wish to be able to make that same comparison in future," he said. 

He continued, "I want to be clear that I am not suggesting that people of faith, or faith leaders, should not play a major role in our public life and public discourse and be representatives in Parliament.

"What we are concerned about here is the automatic right of one Church — one institution — to a privileged position and guaranteed representation at the heart of power."

Andrew Selous, Second Church Estates Commissioner, said the topic was of little interest to his constituents. 

"The good people of South West Bedfordshire are not short of things they want me to get done in this place, but this issue probably does not make the top 50 or even the top 100," he said.

Mr Selous suggested it was important to continue centuries of tradition and noted that other faith groups did not want the bishops removed from the Lords.

He later concluded that the presence of the bishops gave a voice to people of faith in general and argued that it was good for public discourse.

"We have an angry and divided public square, social media lynch mobs, and so on. The world view that we pick up from the Church, however imperfectly demonstrated by the bishops, is one of love, forgiveness and grace, and we have never needed that more in our public life than we do at the moment," he said.

"We need humility and hopefulness, and that is part of what the bishops point to. That is very necessary and extremely important in a troubled and hurting world. If it's not broke, don't change it."

In addition to leading prayers, the Lords Spiritual can be active in debates and vote on legislation.

The debate in the Commons coincided with the Archbishop of Canterbury's push in the House of Lords to amend the government's Illegal Migration Bill. 

His amendment to force the government to develop a 10-year strategy on trafficking and refugees was backed by peers earlier this week.