Church of England thinks gay marriage will destroy everything, zOMG! End of world! Quelle surprise, but then again, they still hold sway on Middle England and we don’t want to copy the more fundamentalist excesses of the American churches, so I responded to the BBC article and thought I’d post here as an open letter:
I’m not civil partnered but have been in a relationship for 15 years – so much for this sinful unstable lifestyle the Church likes to suggest.
But I have friends who want to marry or might want to – and I find it amazing that the CofE is trying to copy our American cousins and start some witchhunt over gay marriage.
I can’t see how registry office weddings can make marriage more ‘hollowed out’ than the couples who decide not to marry in church – are they engaging in a “content free”, “consumerist”, agreement too? This statement suggests not only the Church of England owns marriage – which it most certainly does not – but they are the sole arbiters, and that it must be for ‘procreation’ – a very old-fashioned view and I’m sure one which married couples who can’t or decide not to have children find problem with.
As for a few thousand LGBTQ people changing the rights of many magically by getting married at the Town Hall – may I direct you to all the Church and non-Church marriages that lead unfortunately to divorce? If marriage was in such rude health and perfect over millennia as these persons suggest why does such a high number result in divorce?
I can’t see any logic in their objections – nothing will force them to carry out such weddings – they may choose to because their bigotry puts them out of the wedding business, but only the church itself is making it ‘disappear’ through such embarrassing statements.
And the part about “the duty of Anglican clergy to perform marriages for any parishioner who wanted one might disappear, undermining the Church of England’s role as the state church.” sounds very much like a threat of throwing their toys out of the pram and closing down weddings if forced to be equal in future.
It’s suspiciously like what Catholic Church did over homeless and charity work over being included in a employment equality law with included sexual orientation in New York – which leads me to a very dim view of either Churches work. Christian in action unless not getting their own way, and happy to play ball with people’s lives if politically needed? Sad.
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