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Monday, August 12, 2013

Church of England may be Sued over Gay Marriage

Window at Parish Church of St Peter, Frampton ...
Window at Parish Church of St Peter, Frampton Cotterell, England (Photo credit: DanieVDM)
I saw this article a few weeks ago, but am just now commenting on it. They said it wouldn't happen, religious organizations would be exempt on religious grounds. And yet, one gay couple in England wishes to test the limits of gay marriage equality with regards to the Church of England. The article:

Gay couple may sue Church of England to wed in church
By Trevor Grundy| Religion News Service,August 06, 2013 CANTERBURY, England — The British government’s promise that no religious organization will be forced to conduct same-sex weddings following the passage of a gay marriage bill may soon be tested.
Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, 42, and his partner, Tony, 49 — millionaires who run a surrogacy company in Britain and the U.S. — have been a high-profile couple since 1999 when they became the first gay couple to be named on the birth certificate of their child. Now they have five children by five surrogate mothers. All the children are American citizens born in California.
While planning for a sixth, they told the Daily Mail they plan to sue the Church of England to get married there. “I want to go to my church and marry my husband,” said Drewitt-Barlow in an interview published Friday (Aug. 2).
“It is a shame that we are forced to take Christians into a court to get them to recognize us.” 
So, basically, what you have here is the nation of Great Britain stating that gay marriage is now legal while giving exemption to religious bodies such as the Church of England.  The law goes into effect next year and other religious groups, according to the article, do plan on performing same-sex marriages next year. These groups include the Quakers, Unitarians, and Reform Jews.  Earlier this year, the United States Supreme Court struck down a provision in the Defense of Marriage Act with regards to same-sex marriage here, but it mostly applies to marriages being recognized from one state to another. We have been warning for some time, that should same-sex marriage become widely legal here, that churches could be in danger of being sued. We've seen businesses practically shut down over the personal beliefs of their owners with regards to same-sex marriage. Now, in England, we see the possibility of the State Church under fire, for not performing what is legal under the law, despite Biblical prohibitions against it.

Gay marriage proponents in the U.S. deny that this would happen here, and yet, many churches have already capitulated to demands by throwing out the Bible. Why should the gay marriage opponents stop at businesses? Why not continue to take their fight to the churches? I don't believe they will stop until churches that disagree with them are shut down as well. Are we prepared to go underground for our faith? 
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