Gay marriage in churches
 

Should the government be getting involved with this ?or is it a matter for the different churches in Britain to sort out ? Is the government trying to force change on the churches ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12442375

Thoughts anyone ?

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

the religions are not going to sort this out without being forced to by law , preaching tolerance is one thing but delivering it is a very bitter pill to swallow imo.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

Live and let live. I see no problem with this. The clergy will still have the last say if they are homophobic and will out these dinosaurs.

Plenty of gay people are christians, so why should they be excluded? Good to see it will extend to synagogues and mosques .

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

I don't think the government should have anything to do with it .Forcing change on a religious issue using legislation is wrong and will never work .It will lead to double standards and confusion within the church as some churches refuse to hold a religious ceremony based on their own religious beliefs

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

for my religion the answer be "well we wont do any weddings" its not a big deal really they are not required in the sense of being a religious ceremony the bible really only requires that you abide by the local laws on registering that you are and that you dont get divorced except for adultery.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

if its right to discriminate against someone because you think its gods will ,then surely it must be ok to discriminate if you think you are superior or of a higher social standing etc etc etc ....

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

The point i'm making is that change in religion to suit modern society should be natural not enforced by law ,we shouldn't force religious institutions to change their beliefs ,it's the same as making a law forcing you to go church every sunday


edit

just to add i don't think it should be classed as discrimination either

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

Yet religion greatly influenced the government for over a thousand years ;)

If you let religion have the freedom of setting it's own rules of discrimination then you'd have to give the same power to every other group that wanted it.. including groups like the recently discussed events in luton.. The line has to be drawn somewhere..

We are all resident of this country and until the anglican church create their own state and hide behind it like the rc church does then they are beholding to our laws which includes non-discrimination.. and even then they can only do what they like within their own hiding place :rolleyes:

Before anyone says it I am not an athiest!!!

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

but it clearly is discrimination neatly packaged as gods will ,the great get out clause of the worlds intolerant bigots .

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

You have to remember though that under current laws there is no such thing as a gay marriage :( so in the end this thread according to the title is a non-event ;) The story is actually concerning Civil Partnerships which currently happen in lots of churches anyway..

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

i dont get what all the fuss is about let the gay community get married to each other, let them have equality i mean whats the problem they have every right to be as misserable as the rest of us married people

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

Nothing wrong at all with leaving it up to individual churches and clergy at all. Leaves them a choice to either appear 'backwards' or put their religion into a bad light if its holy book speaks out clearly against homosexuality.

Backwards in apostrophes as it's not really backwards, they should have every right to decide who they do and do not marry / join in civil union at their sole discretion.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

so a special dispensation to discriminate against certain members of society ??

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

The Times had an interesting take on it. It was claimed that some churches (The Quakers for instance) support gay marriage. Under current legislation a religious gay marriage is not allowed. Thus, from that perspective this is a move towards freedom of religious expression.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

Religion is all about discrimination ,christians discriminate against jews,ect ,ect .It is all about a set belief that does discriminate against others .All the churches do at the moment is allow a ceremony for gay people but not a religious one ,no hymns ,prayers ect ,this idea is to force (via legislation) a church to have a religious service for people that in the eyes of the church are not religious

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

not religious ??
never heard of a gay Christian /[insert faith]

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

That is correct but the civil partnership is not blessed by god ,which imo is the only reason to get married in a church .

---------- Post added at 14:00 ---------- Previous post was at 13:57 ----------

Yes plenty ,but in the eyes of some churches they are not because they are going against gods will ,and that is whole point ,i don't think we should impose our own beliefs morals on others .

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

How about gay marriages in temples and mosques too?

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

That's the stupid thing about this proposed legislation ,it will extend to temples and mosques but being gay is not allowed in Islam so can you imagine what would happen if 2 gay muslims asked to be married .It's a pointless peice of interfering from the government

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

But marriage in a church isn't valid until you sign the marriage register (which is a civil requirment) and that's what makes it a marriage and not the church ceremony ;) So again it's the church leaders discriminating against some people as to what they will accept. Strange as a good proportion of church members will allow their church to used for ceremonies concerning civil partnerships so I'm very surprised that the leaders don't realise this.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

court case followed by huge payout for discriminating against their rights ?? its not pointless if it gives people the same rights the rest of society enjoy .

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

Actually, the proposed legislation does not require the churches to allow Gay marriages. What it does is remove the current ban, which is not the same thing at all.

From the BBC article:

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

It is pointless because the law will allow clergy/mosques/temples to still disallow the service on religious grounds

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

the more i hear the more i'm convinced religion is to put it politely a crock .

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

Yep, religious services aren't a right.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQf5jL3a4iU :D

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

to a certain extent i agree ,but in my view religion and politics don't mix ...it'll all end in tears

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

Religion = God
Church = God

Does God like gays?
= yes or no to gay marriage in churches.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

but the problem is if they do get married even in a church you wont be able to call them gay anymore because gay means happy and how many happy married people do you all no i cant think of any

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

This kind of thing must really offend followers of religions that say it's wrong. It's so against what their good book dictates, and now it seems their religion is being dictated to by the politically correct, who want to change strict religious beliefs for their own bennefit.

The church must obide by what it's book says is right, and I think to go against it would be Sacrilegious.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

Thats a question I imagine quite a few self important people know the answer to, only in their minds though.
Its always amazed me that so many people from all religions actually know what God is thinking!!!
Of course if they didn't know the inner most thoughts of God, they wouln't be able judge and condenm.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

Their own prejudices shouldn't get in the way. but they obviously do.
God needs to lay a few rules down.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

The church seems to have a surprising amount of flexibility with The Bible. A lot of the bible can be interpreted many ways. As such, if the church wishes to change it's interpretation of a section of The Bible, they simply announce that the section is unclear (whether it is or not).

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

But that's not what's happening at all. Churches who don't believe in gay marriage can carry on as they are. Those who aren't opposed are no longer banned by law from performing the ceremony.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

I don't understand why Christians are against gay marriage.
Jesus had two dads, he turned out alright.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

I think you might have misunderstood the concept a bit..

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

I keep forgetting about Joseph.

Re: Gay marriage in churches
 

I don't understand why people are against gay marriage. Their main argument is that it's tearing away at our social fabric.

You really think gays would do anything to harm fabric?