Civitas has published a set of essays from a very wide range of viewpoints. See Gay marriage: the debate for an explanation.
With the row over gay marriage set to reach the House of Lords on Monday, Civitas today publishes a wide-ranging collection of essays from the leading figures on both sides of this most polarised of debates.
The Meaning of Matrimony: Debating Same-Sex Marriage is edited by our deputy director Anastasia de Waal who, while herself strongly in favour of the reform, has sought to bring under one roof all of the arguments – for and against – to provide a definitive guide to the debate.
Most striking is the vehemence of opinion among so many intelligent, rational people with such different – often diametrically opposing – views…
The essays are in this PDF file: The Meaning of Matrimony.
Also, Andrew Goddard has written Misrepresenting same-sex marriage: The Bishop of Salisbury.
On the other hand, the Chief Executive of Barnardo’s is urging peers in the House of Lords to support the Marriage (Same Sex Couple) Bill and says “equal marriage will have a positive effect for children growing up in a gay household.” See this article by Anne Marie Carrie.
Update
There is a commentary on one of the Civitas articles in this piece at Ekklesia by Savi Hensman Carey’s scaremongering on equal marriage, polygamy and incest.
“in order to provide support for the views of the political elite”: ad hominems, Mr Goddard? You think that’s going to be persuasive?
“Justice delayed is justice denied.” RevDrMLKJr
“Deep in my heart I do believe that we shall overcome the evil myth of heterosexual-supremacy!” ~Rev. Timmy, together in Love at first sight with Earl for 37 years, since 1976
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIqyi-jMWmw
Andrew Goddard is misrepresenting the Bishop of Salisbury when he includes, in his case against him, that the Bishop ‘seemingly embraces a proof-texting approach’. What the Bishop actually does is to point out that arguments based on these proof texts, used to condemn homosexual activity, are weak because the texts are not being understood in their proper context.
From Goddard, “When those with power seek to pass legislation explicitly contradicting church teaching and thus face strong and united opposition from denominations across the Christian church…” This is terribly dishonest. There are Christian denominations in the UK willing to marry LGBT persons, and others that are exploring the idea with more open mindedness than CoE. Currently, the religious freedom of the liberal churches is being curtailed by oppressive forces, such as CoE, and that’s about to change. World wide, there are even more Christian churches doing same-sex marriage. From there, the article continues to be lame. Marriage between a… Read more »
I find Andrew Goddard’s bullying and hectoring tone hard to take.
‘The teaching of the Church’ ? Don’t make me laugh ! Why does the C of E try at least to sound authoritative on only one subject – gay sex ?
This hasty riposte just won’t wash.
The C of E has acted without honour or integrity in this matter.
The public will not forget it.
Many Church of England ministers, like myself, would love to marry same sex couples; and also to be ‘married in church’ ourselves. Especially after years of marrying couples myself.
I can see that I shall not be offered the opportunity, myself (unless I live to be about 100 ).
SO I shall not celebrate the eucharist or receive it, in the Church of England or RC church,from now on, until such time as this injustice is removed.
Brendon O’Neill’s essay lost me when he started getting sniffy about the expansion of the definition of Domestic Abuse. To argue that this shows a governmental elite set on undermining marriage by threatening to intervene in the normal ups and downs of family life simply demonstrates his own lack of knowledge of domestic abuse. (The language has changed from violence to abuse because so much harm can be done by a perpetrator without ever lifting a finger). The emotional and psychological abuse starts long before the physical, and yet the damage can be just as significant. And the definition was… Read more »
I must agree with those who find Andrew Goddard’s piece “lame”.
It highlights just how vulnerable the anti gay lobby is on this topic.
They argue marriage “has always been” this or that, and it demonstrably has not been the case. Their view of marriage is as relevant to me today as the levitical priesthood.
I think the only interesting thing we can find here is in the final paragraph. Goddard’s close ally Graham Kings is clearly agitated that Nick has told the truth.
I am disappointed by Andrew Goddard’s attempt to smear Nicholas Holtam, a consistent advocate of justice and equality, as someone ‘whose commitment to the crudest form of Christendom politics leads them to advocate new forms of “civic religion” by providing a theological gloss to legitimate the desires of those in secular authority who want to use their state power as they see fit’. As for Andrew G’s claim that ‘Clearly some Christians historically have been supportive of slavery and more recently of apartheid but they represent a small minority of Christians. Their stance is one taken against the wider church… Read more »
I’ve read a few things from Goddard in the past with varying degrees of interest but am not a regular devotee of his offerings. This item however struck me merely as tedious – little more than a weak bundle of assertions of someone who knew they haven’t got much. The main critique of Bishop of Salisbury seems to be that he is undermining a terrifically unanimous and unquestioning edifice of united opposition to allowing same sex couples to marry. It’s a valid criticism, of course. I imagine that there are a number of bishops and other clergy who’d love to… Read more »
“Personally I think they’re right to dissent from the party line because the party line is difficult to understand on any rational level.”
Exactly, it isn’t rational. It’s a phobia, homophobia. And it is playing out rather hysterically in CoE leadership, with the shining exception of +Nicholas.
In other news : another ‘openly gay’ bishop.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/rev-guy-erwin-lutheran-gay-bishop_n_3369794.html
Slowly but surely, ‘right is done.’ And there is no answer to that. No possible response to ethical behaviour which has integrity.
Even the Bible-bashers for the most part read it very little, do not know Bible langauges, rely on commentaries, and are far more led by the spirit of the age and media than they like to say. And the acceptance of not simply divorce, but re-marriage after it- serial ‘monogamy’
So gayness is nothing compared to the wide swathe of their compromises with post-modernity.
Andrew Goddard’s assumption that it is out of order for a bishop to express his support for same sex marriage seemed a little peculiar when I read it. But now it seems that the Archbishop of Canterbury disagreees with Goddard as well. Lord Alli is reported today saying: “I said [to Archbishop Welby] that I knew there were people in the Church – such as the Bishop of Salisbury – who were supportive of gay marriage and I asked him if I went to see him and asked him to do a piece would he have your blessing? He said… Read more »
Yes Laurence, very encouraging news from North America. I also do agree that the majority of the Bible believers don’t read the Bible (by which I mean the whole book ~ collection of books ~) intensively. There’s also a difference between reading the Bible devotionaly for uplift and so on and serious study. Very few have read Leviticus in its entirely more than a few times. Even fewer have engaged in comparative study of the legal strictures at different parts of the Old Testament. And of course the number of believers who are truly conversant with both the biblical langauages… Read more »
My surmising is that the Archbishop of Canterbury has licensed the bishop of Salisbury to speak at large on the issue because this is a much saner way of dealing with the debate. He’s right – it is.