That didn’t take long: Just days after British coalition lawmakers announced plans to let gays add a religious element to their civil partnerships (and to let gays apply for capital-M marriages), churches are already making clear their No Gays Allowed policies. Like East Lancashire’s Bishop Nicholas Reade, who says the government’s plans amount to “interfering” with official church business. “I find it quite hard to understand why the government should think it can interfere with the teaching of the church. Church and state are not the same thing, and I am very surprise that without any consultation with the church the government is making such a sweeping statement.” Ya know what? Me too. Which is why there should be no religious aspect to any government-recognized marriage. If couples want to marry in a church, or have a priest officiate their ceremony, great. But the government shouldn’t care either way. And there needn’t be any legislation even mentioning religion.
Snownova
“I find it quite hard to understand why the government should think it can interfere with the teaching of the church”
Bwahahahaha, I feel the exact same way about all the times the church thought it could interfere with the government. Have the decency to accept the irrelevancy of religion with dignity.
kayla
Umm…Queerty…This is Britain, not the United States…the whole concept of separation of church and state, just doesn’t exist in the same way it does in America…The country has an official religion: Anglicanism….And religious schools are connected with and receive funding from the government…I actually think America has it right and much of Europe has it wrong…But I don’t think they’re gonna adopt the First Amendment principles anytime soon…I actually think having an official religion, makes the populace less religious, since they tend to view the church as just another governmental bureaucracy, and as someone who went to an Anglican school where we prayed every single day…I know that most students just saw it as a routine and nothing more.
MikeE
The bishop is quite presumptuous… what about denominations that would LIKE to allow same-sex weddings within their premises? Isn’t he, himself, interfering in other denominations’ “official church business”?
EdWoody
@kayla: The irony is that while the US has an official “separation of church and state” policy, the church routinely inserts itself into political matters, whereas in the UK, where the head of state IS the head of the church, they mostly keep themselves to themselves.
ewe
Look at the silly costume she has on. Don’t these people know it is not the 12th century? I will pass on anything these cloistered nut cases think about on social issues effecting anyone.
ewe
I made a hat just like that in second grade art class.
ewe
Why is she carrying part of a four poster bed around outside?
robert in NYC
No. 4, EdWoody, exactly right about that.
No. 2, Kayla….actually, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Norway and Sweden each have state religion and look what happened. Same-sex marriage legal in all of them. The same will happen in the UK now that government officials are coming out in support of it. The religious cults can rant all they want, its not going to get them anywhere. They railed against civil partnerships and still do so of course they will rant against same-sex marriage. It won’t do them any good. They can’t do a thing because they’re on the government payroll, hissy fits aside. Civil marriage is a lot different to religious marriage so they’ve lost that argument too. The majority of the British public supports it, more than 61% in a poll conducted last year.
Jason
Ewe’s drunk again.
Someone take her car keys.
Katie Murphy - all our family ex catholic
Dunce cap found on head of 10th century priest
Or who said during the french revolution = mankind will only be free when the last king is strangled with the guts of the last priest.
We’ve done a good job re kings – their gone or deballed. Missed a few priests though. Maybe its time for Christians 0, Lions winners.
When you tell a lie often enough and outrageous enough it will be seen as the truth. Sounds like much of christianity today.
And when you try and debunk the lie, the people whose money and power depend on that lie go to war to keep the lie alive