The Church of England cannot support the proposal to enable \u201call couples, regardless of their gender, to have a civil marriage ceremony\u201d\u009d.<\/p>\n
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. 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.<\/p>\n
We have supported various legal changes in recent years to remove unjustified discrimination and create greater legal rights for same sex couples and we welcome that fact that previous legal and material inequities between heterosexual and same-sex partnerships have now been satisfactorily addressed. To change the nature of marriage for everyone will be divisive and deliver no obvious legal gains given the rights already conferred by civil partnerships. We also believe that imposing for essentially ideological reasons a new meaning on a term as familiar and fundamental as marriage would be deeply unwise.<\/p>\n
The consultation paper wrongly implies that there are two categories of marriage, \u201ccivil\u201d\u009d and \u201creligious\u201d\u009d. This is to mistake the wedding ceremony for the institution of marriage. The assertion that \u201creligious\u201d\u009d marriage will be unaffected by the proposals is therefore untrue, since fundamentally changing the state\u201d\u02dcs understanding of marriage means that the nature of marriages solemnized in churches and other places of worship would also be changed.<\/p>\n