The difference is that we hear the voices of people who don't run in the same circles as bishops and barons...or to put it another way, bishops and barons still exist with all that their existence implies.
The bishops* and barons of my acquaintance don't stand on outdated protocol during social events — or at least they don't during the sorts of events to which I'm invited.
* then again, our local bishop has fallen on hard times: the bishopric used to wield both spiritual and temporal power, but these days is pretty much restricted to the former.
Are you referring to the United Kingdom? Because there is no formal difference between 'spiritual' and 'temporal' power in the upper house, only a difference in how the peer gets into it. All bishops in the House of Lords (which is only a fraction of bishops in the Church) can vote on the same motions that the lords can, and some of them (but not that many) choose to do so.
The difference is that we hear the voices of people who don't run in the same circles as bishops and barons...or to put it another way, bishops and barons still exist with all that their existence implies.