photo credit: brian kusler
The UK government is launching a consultation on their intention to change the legal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.
Currently, same-sex couples here can commit to each other in a civil partnership which gives equal rights under the law in terms of property, pension, inheritance etc, but civil partnerships are distinct from marriage and cannot be referred to as such.
The government has made it clear there is no question of forcing religious groups to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies: gay marriage is intended as a civil ceremony.
What a hornets’ nest this has stirred up!
Roman Catholic reaction
Last week Cardinal O’Brien, leader of the Catholic church in Scotland, described the proposals as “a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”.
Head of the Anglicans Dr Rowan Williams is also against the proposal, as is John Sentamu, the influential Archbishop of York.
At Mass this morning, parish churches were read a letter from two senior Catholic archbishops speaking out against this proposal and ending with these words:
We have a duty to married people today, and to those who come after us, to do all we can to ensure that the true meaning of marriage is not lost for future generations.
In other words, they’re mobilising the faithful against the government’s proposals.
Another kind of fidelity
Now I believe we owe another kind of fidelity: to common sense, to decency, to equality and most of all to love and commitment. I believe that those of us who are Catholic (although this one is hanging on only by her fingernails) have to speak out against the Church’s stance on this issue.
What is Christ-like about refusing to allow two people who love each other to marry?
The arguments don’t make sense to me. The Church seems to be saying that governments can’t define marriage because marriage wasn’t created by governments. I think that’s disingenuous; “government” as we know it is a comparatively modern invention. Marriage has been promoted for centuries as a (highly patriarchal) institution by the societies of the day, which have often been the religions of the day. These were effectively “government”.
Biblical teaching
The Old Testament certainly condemns homosexuality, but it also condemns a number of other practices and sets down laws that are absurd to us today. (This clip from the West Wing is a classic on the topic.)
I suppose I must acknowledge that we can all interpret the Bible in ways that suit our own bias. But nowhere in the Gospels does Christ himself say anything about homosexuality, one way or the other. He does however align himself not with the institutions and hierarchy of the day, but with the marginalised. He exemplifies a way of life so radical and challenging that I don’t believe either our institutional churches or most of us as individuals have even scratched the surface of what it means.
Fear
As Christians, we’re taught that everyone is made in the image and likeness of Godde. That means everyone. Why would a compassionate Church attempt to prevent anyone from making a loving commitment to another human being?
It seems clear to me that fear is at the heart of this. If you read the full text of Cardinal O’Brien’s piece in the Telegraph, you’ll see it’s full of alarmist imagery and prophecies of doom.
I believe those who are speaking out against gay marriage are doing so in all sincerity, and I believe we need to try and understand their point of view. But I’m convinced that they are full of unexpressed fear: of the unknown, of the destruction of tradition, of the dismantling of their own authority, of having to move away from the comfort of orthodoxy.
Yet the Carpenter called us to live radical lives, and he called us to love.
For more on this discussion, click here for an article in The Tablet, and here for an article by Jim Martin which sheds light on some of the Church’s less well-known teaching about homosexuality. And whilst I’m hardly a fan of either our current Conservative Prime Minister or of former PM Tony Blair, I have to applaud what they are doing to drive this issue forward. Catholic convert Blair’s support is reported in The Independent.
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