Bishop restates gay marriage is an endorsement of institution of marriage and "a matter of justice"

[markpkessinger]

[font size=5]Bishop restates gay marriage is an endorsement of the institution of marriage and "a matter of justice".[/font]

The Bishop of Salisbury writes today that "The possibility of 'gay marriage' does not detract from heterosexual marriage unless we think that homosexuality is a choice rather than the given identity of a minority of people. Indeed the development of marriage for same sex couples is a very strong endorsement of the institution of marriage."

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Replying to a letter from Lord Alli of Norbury who requested that Bishop Holtam clarify his position on the issue as a member of the House of Bishops for members of the Upper House, Bishop Holtam stresses that this issue is about justice: “In the current debates it is striking that within the Anglican Communion one of the strongest supporters of same sex marriage is Archbishop Desmond Tutu. From his experience of the racism of Apartheid he sees same sex marriage as primarily a matter of justice.”

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In his letter the Bishop of Salisbury also observes that the church has adapted its approach to marriage in light of social change including the widespread availability of contraceptives so that couples may choose to have children; the acceptance of divorce and possibility of marriage in church after divorce so that not all marriages are lifelong, and the acceptance of couples living together before marriage by a Church that still teaches sexual relationships are properly confined to marriage.

The Bishop then explains to Lord Alli that biblical texts never change but sometimes the interpretation of them develops: “ Christian morality comes from the mix of Bible, Christian tradition and our reasoned experience. Sometimes Christians have had to rethink the priorities of the Gospel in the light of experience. For example, before Wilberforce, Christians saw slavery as Biblical and part of the God-given ordering of creation. Similarly in South Africa the Dutch Reformed Church supported Apartheid because it was Biblical and part of the God-given order of creation. No one now supports either slavery or Apartheid.”

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Read full article.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Good to see one voting bishop in the Lords will support gay marriage

The gay marriage bill for England and Wales (Scotland is doing its own; Northern Ireland is not going to get gay marriage, for the moment) has passed in the Commons, with support from the leadership of all the main parties, though about half of the Conservative backbenchers opposed it. It now has to get through the House of Lords.

The UK is one of only 2 countries in the world that reserves places in its legislature for clerics (the other being Iran - oh, what august company we keep ...). This article says that, unfortunately, none of the 25 other bishops who get a seat in the Lords has stated support for the bill. The Lords has a lot of members who don't often turn up to vote - they're appointed for life (apart from the bishops, and a few remaining hereditary lords), and some take it more as an honour, and only get involved when it's a particular area of interest to them. And they tend to be quite old - many are appointed when they retire from electoral politics. So it's by no means clear they'll pass the bill. Having at least one voice from the Church of England supporting the bill will at least mean it won't be presented as "all of the Church of England is against this".

[markpkessinger]

2. Exactly . . .

One thing I found very interesting is that the Bishop addressed the issue in a very characteristically Anglican way, specifically in his appeal to the 'reasoned experience' of the Church and of society as a basis for moderating the church's historical understanding of Scripture. That goes straight to Richard Hooker's balanced triad of tradition, scripture and reason' as together providing the moral authority for the Church's teaching (over against sola scriptura Calvinists and the Roman Catholic notion that all such authority rests with the Magisterium). (For those who are unfamiliar with Hooker, he was a 16th C. priest and theologian whose magnum opus, The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, were and remain hugely influential in Anglican approaches to both moral teachings as well as doctrinal formulation.)

[arely staircase]

3. he's an angliCAN

not an angliCAN'T

proud Episcopalian here. The Church where you don't have to check your brain at the door.

[markpkessinger]

4. Same here . . .

. . . Born and raised Presbyterian, and became an Episcopalian 19 years ago at age 33!

[arely staircase]

5. born and raised southern baptist

confirmed on mother's day of this year at age 40 something.

God's Peace

[markpkessinger]

6. Congratulations! . . .

And welcome to the Episcopal fold!

I don't often post church-related stuff on DU, but every now and then I do, particularly when I come across a story like this one. As I'm sure you are aware, there's a pretty large contingent here on DU who are convinced that all Christians are nothing more than rabid, bible-thumping fundamentalists. I understand where they are coming from, and in fact I think most of the criticisms leveled against Christianity are quite well deserved. I generally don't argue about it with them (because it rarely convinces anybody in any event); I just take the opportunity now and then to post articles like this one, which show that at least some of us are downright reasonable -- progressive even!

Cheers!
-Mark

[arely staircase]

8. thank you

that means a great deal to me.

IMHO two groups of people interpret the Scriptures literally: fundamentalists and atheists. In the case of the latter they use the opinions of the former as paint for that broad brush.

[hrmjustin]

7. I was raised RC and changed to Episcopalian at 18 and I am 34 now.

[arely staircase]

9. :-)

thanks for your help on a previous thread. and the heads up pm.

[hrmjustin]

10. YW! I made nice with a few of them and one put me on ignore.

All in all a good day.