In what’s clearly meant to be a populist move, Mr Cameron appears to be staking his honour on the legalisation of gay marriage within the United Kingdom. When the proposals first surfaced some time ago we were assured that such marriages would be purely civil affairs and churches would not be required – or even allowed – to conduct such ceremonies. Yesterday we were told that the legislation would allow churches to opt into conducting such marriages, but that no religious body would be compelled to solemnise gay unions if it didn’t wish to. Today we are told that the Church of England and the Church in Wales will be exempted from the permissive legislation and will now NOT be allowed to conduct the ceremonies in question, unless further primary legislation is brought forward. We can see how the Government might seek to exempt the Church of England from the legislation as it is the established church. It less clear how the Church in Wales, disestablished in 1920, might be exempted from the permissive legislation. Furthermore we doubt whether the Government would have the power to exempt any religious bodies from the legislation, were the European Court of Human Rights to determine otherwise.
Clearly the Government is in a mess over this ill conceived idea and needs to go back to the drawing board. It needs to revisit not only the detail of the proposed legislation but, whether in fact, the legalisation of gay marriage is either necessary or advisable. Of course Labour and Liberal Democrat party grandees support the idea because it accords with their “progressive” centre-left instincts to do so. However it is far from universally supported within the Conservative party. Many within the party are far from happy with the idea and for good reason. We doubt whether there is really widespread public support for this measure and we know that it is not as widely supported by the gay community as it might be.
Seven years ago the last Government introduced Civil Partnerships, a wise and humane step to address the difficulties faced by same sex couples, effectively conferring all the important rights of marriage but without using the name itself. There is no reason why religious bodies can’t devise and authorise services of blessing for use following Civil Partnership ceremonies if they so wish and a pastoral need is perceived to exist. Marriage – the union of a man and a woman - is an ancient institution predating Christianity and the modern state by a long time. We think it is doubtful whether the state has the authority to redefine marriage and any attempt to do so can only lead to the creation of unhappy confusions.
Clearly the Government is in a mess over this ill conceived idea and needs to go back to the drawing board. It needs to revisit not only the detail of the proposed legislation but, whether in fact, the legalisation of gay marriage is either necessary or advisable. Of course Labour and Liberal Democrat party grandees support the idea because it accords with their “progressive” centre-left instincts to do so. However it is far from universally supported within the Conservative party. Many within the party are far from happy with the idea and for good reason. We doubt whether there is really widespread public support for this measure and we know that it is not as widely supported by the gay community as it might be.
Seven years ago the last Government introduced Civil Partnerships, a wise and humane step to address the difficulties faced by same sex couples, effectively conferring all the important rights of marriage but without using the name itself. There is no reason why religious bodies can’t devise and authorise services of blessing for use following Civil Partnership ceremonies if they so wish and a pastoral need is perceived to exist. Marriage – the union of a man and a woman - is an ancient institution predating Christianity and the modern state by a long time. We think it is doubtful whether the state has the authority to redefine marriage and any attempt to do so can only lead to the creation of unhappy confusions.