A CNI review of responses from churches. Press comments with links
At opposite ends of the debate are groups like Christian Concern and Changing Attitudes Ireland.
Christian Concern is UK based and responds to a variety of ethical and legal issues from a traditional or conservative point of view. It has produced a briefing and list of action points which are available at:
http://christianconcern.com/emailresource/homosexualmarriage
Changing Attitudes Ireland spokesman, Canon Charles Kenny told the Newsletter that theology on sexuality was evolving. This attitude is reflected in a comment on theology on the organisation’s web site:
http://www.changingattitudeireland.org/
A C of I POSITION?
The issue of church based ceremonies has not been commented upon by The Church of Ireland or any of its bishops after the recent news leaks in the UK. A response will probably not differ to those articulated by the C of E and the Archbishop of York. A possible indication may be obtained from the approach to The Civil Partnership Bill 2009 which prompted Standing Committee to request that the Church in Society Committee prepare a memorandum on the draft Civil Partnership legislation in the Republic of Ireland for discussion at its meeting in January 2010.
At General Synod 2010, The Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, speaking on the Civil Partnership Bill, said he respected those who wanted conscience clauses in the legislation but he would like to put on the record “that they’re many who believe [Civil Partnerships] not just a necessary response but a just response to society as it is.”
June Cromer (Dublin) referred to a letter in that day’s Irish Times on the issue of Civil Partnership bill by a member of the General Synod. “What Civil Partnerships are”, she said “relates to what are first and foremost are to souls who have found companionship on their earthly journey.” She urged that the Church of Ireland be “very sensitive on any pronouncements on this matter”. Andrew Brannigan (Down) said he spoke at Standing Committee in favour of a conscience clause. He said that a Christian Register could have faced a custodial sentence if they refused to conduct a civil partnership and argued that a freedom of conscience clause would have been “the best of both worlds.”
IRISH PRESBYTERIAN
A spokesman for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland stated last week that he did not envisage change. The best indication of this church’s stance is the debate at the General Assembly in 2006, which largely reaffirmed the 1979 Assembly deliberations on scriptural teaching regarding homosexuality.
A Newsletter report of June 9, 2006 stated:
North Belfast minister the Rev Lesley Carroll, moving a resolution on homosexual relationships, said Holy Scriptures clearly condemn homosexual practices, as they also condemn heterosexual immorality.
“Scriptures also clearly declare to those so involved the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with the promise of forgiveness and strength in response to repentance and faith,” she said.
Ms Carroll said no matter on the Church and Society Committee agenda brought more correspondence than that of civil partnerships.
The concerns of many, she said, were fuelled by the recent decision of the Scottish General Assembly, which effectively paves the way for authority to be given to ministers of The Krik to confer blessings on same-sex couples.
“We, however, are not the Church of Scotland and we stand by our own Assembly’s decision and view of homosexual relationships, expressed in 1979,” said Ms Carroll.
“We will make our own mind known on the matter of civil partnerships, but must also caution ourselves to be carefully pastoral and to seek measures which mitigate against homophobia and exclusion, in whatever form,” she added.
Dr Ken Newell gave statistics for the church based on Government research which states that 3 per cent of the population is gay. That meant there were probably 9,000 Presbyterians whose sexual orientation was homosexual. He pleaded for pastoral sensitivity.
See:
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/church_stands_firm_on_issue_of_gay_marriages_1_1839439
SCOTLAND – RESPONSES
The Herald, Scotland, reported that “a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said that such a ceremony “would never take place” in a Catholic church.
“Others expressed fears that although churches would not be forced to offer same sex ceremonies they could be accused of discrimination and face lawsuits if they did not.
“But the plans were welcomed by campaigners and politicians, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who claimed that they were long overdue.”
Acknowledging that Quakers had welcomed the move, the report continued:
“John Deighan, parliamentary officer for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: “This will never happen in a Catholic church. It attempts to change our entire definition of family life.
“We are getting to the point where the argument is that it will be seen as intolerant not to marry two men in the church.
“But people have to understand that teaching is handed down – it is not something that is malleable and can be changed.”
Dr Don Horrocks, head of public policy at the Evangelical Alliance, which has its Scottish head office in Glasgow, said that a desire to hold same sex ceremonies in churches “was by no means representative of the mainstream of Christian opinion”.
“You cannot have a civil partnership in church because that would legitimise a sexual relationship outside of marriage,” he said.
He added that even if the law was not extended to Scotland initially there would be pressure to do so in the future, saying that there had been previous legal challenges to try to extend a new law into a neighbouring jurisdiction.
The convener of the Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland, the Reverend Ian Galloway, said: “If the law in Scotland were to change, the Church of Scotland would have to consider its response.”
Last year a group of churchmen and Members of the Scottish Parliament demanded a change in the law in Scotland to give same-sex couples full marriage rights.
FURTHER PRESS REACTION
Gays will be faking it is the provocative headline to Christine Odone’s contribution to The Daily Telegraph. Odone is a journalist, novelist and broadcaster specialising in the relationship between society, families and faith. She is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies and is a former editor of the Catholic Herald and deputy editor of the New Statesman.
She writes: “More than 20,000 gay Britons are joined in civil partnership. I know a few, and they enjoy a far happier union than some heterosexual marriages I come across. If the Coalition now seeks to replace civil partnership with civil marriage, that is its prerogative; already, the former confers the same rights and responsibilities as marriage, so it would be a question of semantics rather than principle. But so be it: men married to women, men married to men, women married to women – they will all be equal before the law.
“They’re not, however, equal in the eyes of the Catholic Church, Evangelical Christianity, Islam or most of Jewry. Even some Anglicans do not accept same-sex unions. Marriage, in these religious communities, joins only man to woman.
“For the Government to demand that believers rewrite their position on marriage is ludicrous. Would Cameron and Clegg demand that Christians rewrite St Matthew’s Gospel, which forbids divorce unless “fornication” has taken place? Or Muslims the story of the Prophet Lut in the Koran, with its warning against homosexual lust? Caesar, or Cameron-Clegg, should leave what is God’s to God. Let theologians tug their chins over this interpretation or that significant omission.”
The Independent in a leading article said the proposal was “a welcome blow against discrimination”. It stated, “Much attention around the expected change to the law will concentrate on whether the churches will now have to allow gay marriages to take place in their places of worship. Certainly, it will be interesting to see how the Church of England, which remains bitterly divided over the ordination of gay priests, responds.
“If changes to the law force what is still the Established Church in England to clarify its muddled and often disingenuous thinking on the question of sexual equality, so much the better. But in an age when a growing number of marriages take place in civil settings and have no religious element to them at all, this is at the same time a peripheral matter.
“Much more important than anything the churches have to say is that Britain is now a world front-runner in the field of equality for sexual minorities. If the Coalition Government succeeds in following through on Ms Featherstone’s expected proposals, it will be to its credit.”
Eamon McCann, the Derry based journalist who is in a long standing heterosexual partnership took the line in The Belfast Telegraph that “the battle for equality is not for gays to fight alone”