Church of England sees rift with government over gay marriage
Written by ENI Tuesday, 19 June 2012 16:19
The Church of England on 12 June said that introducing same sex marriage in the United Kingdom could lead to the established church being forced out of its role of conducting weddings on behalf of the state.
In a 13-page submission to a three-month-long consultation in England and Wales, the church also warned of a possible clash between church canon law that dictates marriage is between a man and a woman and a plan endorsed by Prime Minister David Cameron to legalize gay marriage by 2015.
The church said the government proposal would "hollow out" out the meaning of marriage but and reduce it to "a content free, consumerist agreement."
However, a prominent supporter of gay marriage, campaigner Peter Tatchell, said on his website that the church is "scaremongering, exaggerating the effects of same sex marriage and advocating legal discrimination."
Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay-rights organization Stonewall, told The Guardian newspaper that "there's manifestly no evidence that the recognition of long-term same sex relationships has any impact on the institution of marriage for heterosexuals. It seems odd that the Church of England should be obsessing about a few thousand gay couples once again when there are currently three million children in Britain living in single parent households."
The church's submission also claimed that despite government assurances that churches would not be forced to conduct gay wedding services, it would be "very doubtful" whether limiting same sex couples to non-religious ceremonies would withstand a challenge at the European Court of Human Rights.
The Times newspaper said that there have been more than 100,000 responses to the same-sex marriage consultation, which started on 15 March and ended on 14 June.
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