Promises, Promises

The Presbyterian Church Is Threatening To Divorce The Marriage Act If Gay People Win The Right To Wed

1436187663267This just in from the (increasingly overcrowded) Department of Idle Threats: The Presbyterian Church in Australia is claiming they’ll stop marrying anybody, at all, ever again, if same-sex marriage is legalized in the country.

So there.

John McClean, convenor of the Gospel, Society and Culture Committee of the NSW Presbyterian Church, isn’t threatening to set himself on fire or marry his own daughter, but he’d like you to believe he’d rather pull the plug on all this marriage business than see that right extended to gay Australians.

Related: Will the Presbyterian Church Finally Approve Sexually Active Gay Clergy?

In an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald, McClean laments the fact that “most people do not think that sex is only for marriage, and the vast majority of couples in Australia who marry live together first.”

Yeah, this op-ed piece really blows the roof off.

He adds that “[m]any Australians are not convinced that marriage should be for life” and “[n]ow a significant section of the Australian population also want marriage redefined to include same-sex couples.”

He feels these three trends deviate so far from the traditional Christian view of marriage that the only thing left to do is throw in the towel and give up.

According to Pink News, McClean was asked why it was the prospect of same-sex marriage that led him to abruptly take such an extremo stance, and not, say, no-fault divorce or premarital sex. He limply replied that “he was not around in 1975 when no-fault divorce was introduced.” So… he’s just trying to make up for lost time.

Singing a veritable cantata of false notes, McClean claims: “Jesus’ view was that sex is for marriage, marriage is for life, and marriage is for a man and a woman… Many people don’t share any of the three key elements in Jesus’ definition.” So now, he claims, it’s time to withdraw from the Marriage Act altogeteher.

We’d say we don’t follow his logic, but there’s clearly no logic to try following.

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