Cardinal defends ‘grotesque’ gay marriage comment and calls to stop ‘progress’

[cleanhippie]

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland Cardinal Keith O’Brien has defended comments at the weekend in which he described equal marriage rights as ‘grotesque’ and the legalisation of gay marriages as being akin to the legalisation of slavery and warned of ‘further aberrations’.

Defending the comments he made at the weekend likening equal marriage to slavery and saying it was a violation of human rights, he told the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning it was “time to call a halt now to what you may call progress in society”.

“Further aberrations” would ensue and “society would be degenerating even further than it has already degenerated into immorality” if the government were to allow gays to marry, he said.

He added that he was not “saying it is grotesque, but perhaps to some people it might appear grotesque” and it would “shame” the UK.

While Scotland will not be included in Westminster plans for gay marriage, the consultation on which is due to begin soon, the Scottish government has said it is “minded” to introduce marriage equality and completed its own consultation last year.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/03/05/scottish-cardinal-defends-grotesque-gay-marriage-comment-and-calls-to-stop-progress/

[Trillo]

1. Is this any more sophisticated than Limbaugh's "slut" insult?

Seems like bullying to me.

[mr blur]

2. Fuck him.

It's he and his fellow "aberrations" who “shame” the UK.

[chaplainM]

3. He should read his Bible

His God approves of slavery.

[deacon_sephiroth]

4. oh no the village witch doctor has rattled his staff of beeds and bones

Hey Cardinal,

Shut the fuck up. You people had your chance to run world governments and we got the DARK AGES. No one gives a shit what you think or what you warn of.

[LeftishBrit]

5. Deep sigh

'It is time to call a halt to what you may call progress in society'??? Sounds like something out of Newsthump (a British version of the Onion).

“All children deserve to begin life with a mother and father; the evidence in favour of the stability and well-being which this provides is overwhelming and unequivocal.”

No. It is on the whole found that children do better with two parents than with one, though it's hard to disentangle all sorts of confounding factors; but studies do NOT show worse outcomes for children raised by gay or lesbian parents than by heterosexual parents.

Also: there is quite a bit of hypocrisy here. If the religious right REALLY want to defend 'traditional Christian marriage', then the obvious step would be to try to make divorce and/or remarriage more difficult. Few pay more than lipservice to this nowadays. Why? Presumably because there are a great many divorced people/ second spouses of divorced people/ people who would like the option of divorce if their present relationship doesn't work out. Anyone who tries to ban divorce, or even to make it harder, will be swimming against the tide, and making themselves quite unpopular - a political candidate, for instance, would find it hard to get elected on such a platform. It's much easier to go after the gays, who are a small minority of the population. So the religious right-wingers are not just nasty, they are mostly cowardly too.

[LeftishBrit]

6. By the way, you might like the Guardian's 'Pass Notes' on this man

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/shortcuts/2012/mar/05/pass-notes-cardinal-keith-obrien

People like him are in a minority in the UK, even among senior clergy. But I may be a bit paranoid - but I think the American Christian Right are infecting the 'fifty-first state' to some degree.