The Government, it would seem, feels no such respect. The Coalition proposes a new law that would allow gays to wed in church and other places of worship. No matter that in doing so they would upset large numbers of believers; or that clerics are warning that they cannot force conscientious objectors to celebrate ceremonies they deem to be a sacrilege. The Government sees this as a crucial step in obtaining full equality for gay people.
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….
[blockquote] “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.” [/blockquote]
“Even some Anglicans” – whatever is the world coming to?