LONDON (RNS) — The Church of England has discovered a shortage of a basic piece of equipment that it really cannot afford to do without – an adequate supply of Bibles for its churches.

The Church’s General Synod voted in February to ensure that everyone visiting a church should have “easy and unfettered access” to a Bible, after delegates complained that many churches were failing to make them available.

No exact figures were available. But one briefing paper, presented to the Synod by delegate Tim Cox, said some churches keep Bibles under lock and key, and that one had removed them on grounds that “they were too difficult to dust.”

In 1536, King Henry VIII (whose six marriages had landed him in trouble with religious authorities of the day) ordered that an English version of the Bible be placed in every church. The Bibles often had to be shackled to the pulpit to guard them against violators of the Eighth Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.”