Brit MP Calls for Religious Groups to Marry Homosexuals or Stop Performing Marriages
By Jerry A. Kane
A conservative member of the British Parliament has asked Prime Minister David Cameron to ban religious groups from performing government recognized, legally-binding marriages unless they preside over same-sex ceremonies too.
“As long as religious groups can refuse to preside over ceremonies for same-sex couples, there will be inequality.”—Mike Weatherly in a letter to David Cameron
Tory Party member Mike Weatherly wants Cameron to follow the precedent setting adoption laws that force Catholic adoption agencies to place children with same-sex couples. The proposed marriage laws would compel Anglicans, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims to register civil partnerships and perform same-sex couple ceremonies.
“[T]he inequality which exists between the unions of same-sex couples and those of opposite-sex couples in this country … is not be tolerated in other areas, such as adoption, after all. … Until we untangle unions and religion in this country, we will struggle to find a fair arrangement.”—Weatherly’s letter
Currently, civil ceremonies are performed in register offices and secular places such as hotels, but the ceremonies do not allow for religious icons or imagery.
“[T]he Catholic Church in England and Wales will not allow civil partnerships to be registered on its premises. … The activities that take place within … [Religious premises] must be in accordance with the beliefs and practices of that religion … No other body can have the right to decide that activities contrary to the religion’s teaching may take place on its premises – to do so would be a flagrant breach of the right to freedom of religion under the European Convention on Human Rights.”—Marcus Stock, general secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
Weatherly’s proposed law would deny religions in the United Kingdom their fundamental right to proselytize their faith and enforce their religious creeds. His law would also ignore the people’s religious convictions and force those who hold a traditional notion of marriage to the fringes of society.
“Discrimination in today’s society should not be tolerated. … As a supposedly civilised country, we should be pushing for a society where everyone is equal before the law. Quite simply, same-sex couples should have exactly the same marriage rights.”—Mike Weatherly
Meanwhile on this side of the pond, the subjugation of Christian liberties to political correctness continues unabated. Vanderbilt University’s new nondiscrimination policy denies Christian organizations the right to require that their leaders share Christian beliefs, goals, and values.
“Vanderbilt policies do not allow this expectation/qualification for officers.”—Gretchen Person, interim director of the Office of Religious Life
Membership is open to anyone, but leaders must be Christian if they are to “share the beliefs of the organizations that they seek to lead.”
“Each officer is expected to lead Bible studies, prayer and worship at chapter meetings. We come together to do things that Christians do together.”—Justin Gunter, Christian Legal Society president
If carried to its logical conclusion, the school’s policy would demand that a Satanist be allowed to lead a Christian group, a Muslim to lead a Jewish group, or an atheist to lead a Muslim group.
Yet the school’s Catholic organization has already complied with the new policy. Vandy Catholic has changed its constitution to read that any undergraduate student at the university can serve as a Board member of the organization.
Currently, five campus religious organizations have been placed on provisional status and face being shut down if they remain non-compliant.
Ain’t no reason to hang your head
I could wake up in the mornin’ dead.
Oh! And if I thought it would do any good,
I’d stand on the rock where Moses stood
I.M. Kane
For more on the story, see British MP: Ban Marriages in “Homophobic” Churches, Tory MP urges Cameron to crack down on churches that refuse to hold same-sex ceremonies, Tory MP calls for churches to be banned from holding marriages if they refuse gay couples, and Professor Says Vanderbilt Suppressing Christian Student Groups Amid Shutdown Threats.
THE MILLSTONE DIARIES 