From the BBC introductory blurb:<\/p>\n
“Who should be allowed to marry?” It may sound a strange question, but that’s exactly the issue raised by reports that the government is considering allowing gay “weddings” in churches and other places of worship. If that isn’t contentious enough in recent weeks we’ve also had heterosexual couples demanding the right to have civil partnerships, plans to give co-habiting couples the same rights as those who are married and 24 hour Las Vegas style wedding chapels could be coming to a street near you soon. We’ve come a long way from the days of the Biblical understanding of the sacrament of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. But does it matter? Perhaps not if you see marriage as just another contractual arrangement like buying a car or a house. But historically we’ve viewed marriage as uniquely valuable to society….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The programme is chaired by Michael Buerk with Melanie Phillips (Daily Mail), Claire Fox(Institute of Ideas), Kenan Malik (a neurobiologist) and Clifford Longley (a Roman Catholic commentator)<\/p>\n