Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Same-Sex "Marriage" Plans for England

Churches Speak Out Against Proposal

LONDON, DEC. 11, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The British government is expected to soon announce its plans to introduce legislation to legalize same-sex "marriage." In recent days the debate over the issue has heated up.

In Scotland, Bishop Joseph Devine of the Diocese of Motherwell, sent a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron expressing his strong disapproval of introducing same-sex "marriage."

According to a report in Sunday’s Scotsman newspaper he accused Cameron of being “out of his depth” and suggested he is “devoid of moral competence.”

The article also reported that Bishop Devine said that Cameron is responsible for a political culture in which “words mean nothing” and is guilty of using “graceless … offensive” language when dealing with clerical affairs.

The Church of England has also expressed firm opposition to the idea of same-sex "marriage."

“It is important to be clear that insistence on the traditional understanding of marriage is not knee-jerk resistance to change but is based on a conviction that the consequences of change will not be beneficial for society as a whole,” the Dec. 7 statement by the Church of England said.

Marriage between a man and a woman is unique, the statement explained. Unique in that it “embodies the underlying, objective, distinctiveness of men and women.”

“This distinctiveness and complementarity are seen most explicitly in the biological union of man and woman which potentially brings to the relationship the fruitfulness of procreation,” the statement continued.

“To remove from the definition of marriage this essential complementarity is to lose any social institution in which sexual difference is explicitly acknowledged.”

A number of reports in the English media also point to deep divisions within Cameron’s Conservative Party over the issue.

According to the BBC more than 100 members of Parliament from Cameron’s own party are expected to oppose the legislation. The proposal is likely to be introduced into Parliament early next year.

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