Channel 4 News Gay marriage law plans split Tories – video
BBC Same-sex marriage plans to be outlined
Telegraph Ministers accused of ‘sham’ consultation over gay marriage
Guardian Tory backlash against same-sex marriage
And the Guardian has this editorial: Gay marriage: beyond argument
…As the response to the consultation on equal marriage is published, there are two twists on the old tale of principled reform meeting pretend practical objections. The first is that desperate defences of the status quo are starting to self-defeat. It was in an effort to address the one reasonable religious demand, that no priest should be required to bless a union they believe to be wrong, that Whitehall proposed restricting reform to civil marriage, and keeping gay weddings to hotels and civic halls, well away from hallowed ground. The distinction was always clunky, particularly because reformist chapels and synagogues have now been free to stage civil partnerships for a year. Had the law gone through in this form, religious gay couples would have had to shun marriage in favour of a civil partnership to receive a religious service. That is plainly absurd, but this was not the basis on which the Church of England attacked the civil/religious marriage distinction. Rather, it suggested that dividing marriages into different classes would somehow fracture a foundation stone of a Christian society. This sophistry appears to have tested the patience of the Christian culture secretary, Maria Miller. Appearing in the house on Monday, she appeared ready to call the church’s bluff, by conceding that the civil/religious wedding distinction has indeed proved problematic – and then blurring it. She looks set to allow any church that wishes it to stage a gay wedding…
Independent Gay marriage: Osborne and Cameron have reached the right decision – for the wrong reason
It’s pretty amusing that the religious right is calling the consultation a ‘sham’ owing to the change. They themselves hoped that the consultation would change the government direction, through their form-letter campaign directed at right-leaning religious people, but change in a way they wanted. When the consultation did in fact affect the government plans, but to their horror not in a way they wanted — well, that’s not fair, something’s wrong. We don’t need religion to be able to understand any of this — this is an all too human situation, and response, non? It will be interesting to read… Read more »
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9325508/Gay-marriage-plans-could-force-priests-to-marry-couples-in-church.html
This woman, Sharon James, is either deluded or trying deliberately to get away with a big porky pie.
Not a single church in Canada has been forced to perform a same sex marriage.
I’d be surprised if the woman had ever stepped foot in Canada or could name the Prime Minister even. She’d likely even get the Head of State wrong.
So Miller’s just announced that the CofE will be prohibited from holding same-sex marriage, even if individual ministers want to, and requiring later primary legislation in order to change this. That’s going to be fun: let’s see what ministers within the CofE who claim not to be homophobic have to say about it.
The Fourth Lock, so early on, is all I could ask for:
‘The bill will explicitly ban the Church of England and the Church in Wales from conducting gay marriage’
‘For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth.’ (1 Cor 5:12,13)
Labour MPs get a free vote without the prospect of losing the whip.
Christmas came early this year.
We understand that the Church in Wales is unlikely to change its law and facilitate gay marriage here. So we have written to the Archbishop before the government announcement today laying out a scheme where TEC or the Canadian Church might establish a chaplaincy here and so via their auspices and under their national decisions to permit marriage to same sex couples we might proceed to support Anglicans here in Wales in the meantime.