(Please note that the above headline is mine, the paper itself has “Church split as senior bishop comes out in favour of gay marriage”–KSH).
Bishop Holtam told The Times: “We are living in a different society. If there’s a gay couple in The Archers, if there’s that form of public recognition in popular soaps, we are dealing with something which has got common currency. All of us have friends, families, relatives, neighbours who are, or who know somebody, in same-sex partnerships.”
For a long time he believed that marriage could only be between heterosexual people. But he said: “I’m no longer convinced about that. I think same-sex couples that I know who have formed a partnership have in many respects a relationship which is similar to a marriage and which I now think of as marriage. And of course now you can’t really say that a marriage is defined by the possibility of having children. Contraception created a barrier in that line of argument. Would you say that an infertile couple who were knowingly infertile when they got married, weren’t in a proper marriage? No you wouldn’t.”
Read it all (subscription required). Update – some details are here
Ah Pageantmaster – didn’t you predict this would happen?
How can the C of E avoid schism now?
“And of course now you can’t really say that a marriage is defined by the possibility of having children.” So what’s the point then? Why should the state or Church, for that matter, recognize and legitimate any relationship at all? Why shouldn’t all people simply be recognized as single people or single people living together?
#1 – Looks like Tricky Nicky is trying his best to make sure he is persona non grata in Sudan, just like his chum Katherine.
And there are more Loonies on the way. Jonathan Clark, chair of Affirming Catholicism has been rewarded for being a good boy and playing nicely by being made suffragan Bishop of Croydon in the dysfunctional Peoples Republic of Southwark. I expect he will be pushing for gay bishops shortly after he finishes pushing for women bishops, not that many people actually turn up to support AC’s events – one recently had to be cancelled through lack of interest.
Oh, here we go…
Many people expressed grave reservations as to whether Nick Holtam had the competence or knowledge to be a bishop at all, let alone a senior post like Salisbury. They are being proven right, in spades.
Holtam’s judgment has always been suspect: he welcomed the ultra-divisive and heretical Gene Robinson to England; he is a long-time member of Inclusive Church; and a supporter of the irrelevant and marginal Changing Attitude.
Holtam clearly has no idea about the reasons why the Church has maintained marriage as being only between a man and woman for 2,000 years. Disagreeing with the Church is one thing, but not understanding its basic teachings? This really is just incompetence.