USA Africa Dialogue Series - Anglicans threaten rift with government over gay marriage

To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site,
go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/12/gay-marriage-anglican-church-warning

Anglicans threaten rift with government over gay marriage

Church says introducing same-sex marriage legislation could lead to it
being forced out of traditional wedding role

Ben Quinn
Tuesday June 12 2012
The Guardian


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/12/gay-marriage-anglican-church-warning


The threat of an unprecedented clash between church and state over the
issue of gay marriage has opened up after the Church of England
delivered an uncompromising warning to the government against pressing
ahead with controversial proposals.

Introducing same-sex marriage could lead to the church being forced
out of its role of conducting weddings on behalf of the state, the
church claimed in a potentially explosive submission in response to
the government's consultation on gay marriage, which closes on
Thursday.

The submission's warning of a potential clash between canon law ? that
marriage is between a man and a woman ? and parliament is likely to
put pressure on the prime minister, David Cameron, who has spoken out
in support of gay marriage and already come under fire from supporters
of the proposals for allowing a free vote amongst Tory MPs.

In a 13-page submission, the church says it cannot support the
proposal to enable all couples, regardless of their gender, to have a
civil marriage ceremony.

"Such a move would alter the intrinsic nature of marriage as the union
of a man and a woman, as enshrined in human institutions throughout
history," it says.

"Marriage benefits society in many ways, not only by promoting
mutuality and fidelity, but also by acknowledging an underlying
biological complementarity which, for many, includes the possibility
of procreation."

The controversy comes at a particularly delicate time for the church
itself, which is in the middle of a process that will choose a new
Archbishop of Canterbury later this year to replace Dr Rowan Williams.

Internal debates on gay rights have been particularly heated during
his tenure as he struggled to balance the CofE's own factions at the
same time as holding together the disparate worldwide Anglican
communion of 80 million members.

The church's submission warns that despite ministerial assurances that
churches would not have to conduct gay marriages, it would be "very
doubtful" whether limiting same-sex couples to non-religious
ceremonies would withstand a challenge at the European court of human
rights.

This could make it impossible for the CofE to continue its role
conducting marriages on behalf of the state, it warned.

Under the current law, anyone who is resident in England has a legal
right to marry in his or her CofE parish church irrespective of
religious affiliation. Around a quarter of weddings in England take
place in CofE churches.

The church position as set out in the submission, which notes the
CofE's "unique position" in relation to the performing of marriage
ceremonies, potentially raises the prospect of the biggest rupture
between the state and the Church of England since it became the
established church 500 years ago.

It claims the proposals would redefine institution of marriage in
English law, warning: "At the very least that raises new and as yet
unexplored questions about the implications for the current duties
which English law imposes on clergy of the Established Church."

Complaining that several "major elements" of the government's
proposals had not been thought through and were not legally "sound",
the church said introducing gay marriage could also lead to challenges
to civil partnership law, as removing the concept of gender from
marriage while leaving it in place for civil partnerships would be
unlikely to be "legally sustainable".

The Rt Rev Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester, said the CofE had been
supportive of civil partnerships when the legislation was introduced
eight years ago.

But he added: "I think the difficulty we have here is the substitution
of equality for uniformity, that is to say that there can be no
distinction at all between men and women. The government is seeking to
meet what it perceives to be the needs of the gay community. I would
say that the Church of England is sympathetic to those needs, we want
to see a society in which gay people are fully included and their
needs are fully provided for.""But this does not amount to a basis for
introducing a complete redefinition of the concept of marriage based
on a consultation process which is at the very least rapid

"From a standing start within three months to arrive at a fully
considered, weighed and articulated redefinition of a fundamental
social institution which has been thought about in one particular way
for centuries and which is broadly accepted as a social institution in
the same way internationally - to change all that on the basis of a
consultation like this seems to be at the very least unwise and ill
considered."

The government has already been warned on the issue by the Archbishop
of York, Dr John Sentamu, regarded as a serious contender to replace
Dr Williams. The second most senior bishop in the Church of England
said in January [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/28/archbishop-
york-legalise-gay-marriage" title="] that legalising gay marriage
would overturn centuries of tradition and that marriage should only be
between men and women.

The church's submission came under fire from gay rights campaigners
such as Peter Tatchell, who accused it of "scaremongering,
exaggerating the effects of same-sex marriage and advocating legal
discrimination".

He added: "The government's proposals concern only civil marriages in
register offices. They will have no impact on faith organisations or
places of worship. Senior churchmen are protesting against a law
change that will not affect them.

"They have no right to demand that gay couples should be banned from
civil marriage ceremonies."

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, which campaigns for gay
rights, said: "There's manifestly no evidence that the recognition of
long-term same-sex relationships has any impact on the institution of
marriage for heterosexuals.

"It seems odd that the Church of England should be obsessing about a
few thousand gay couples once again when there are currently 3 million
children in Britain living in single-parent households."

A Home Office spokesman said: "The purpose of the equal civil marriage
consultation is to enable us to listen to all views, including those
of all religions.

"Marriage is one of the most important institutions we have. It binds
us together, it brings stability, and it makes this country stronger.
We have been clear that no religious organisation will be forced to
conduct same-sex marriages as a result of our proposals.

"We welcome the Church of England's response and we will be carefully
considering all points of view before publishing the outcome of the
consultation later in the year."


guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2012

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