Further items exploring the ground of Jim Naughton’s article wondering about Rowan Williams, civil partnerships, same sex marriage and the Church of England are linked from Thinking Anglicans:
The British Humanist Society asks if it is time to explore “disestablishment” of the Church of England:
If the Church of England wishes to be free from interference by government, it should work for disestablishment, the British Humanist Association (BHA) has commented today. The BHA has responded in light of remarks made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, stating that the Church of England would not support permit civil partnership ceremonies to be held in its churches, nor would it support any attempts to have equal gay marriage.
Andrew Carey, quoted at Anglican Mainstream argues that “marriage” means man-woman-children and the church must resist any redefinition.
The essential nature of marriage as complementary union of a man and a woman, and the stable nature of marriage for children remain appealing. The need for both a mother and a father still strikes most people as elementary common sense. So all is not lost.
The Church must argue passionately and compassionately for the ideal of marriage. It is good for the whole of society.
A coalition of Evangelical groups have written an open letter to the Prime Minister:
Therefore, we must express our wholehearted opposition to any plans you may have to change the law in this area, and would request that your government thinks long and hard before legislating to permit same-sex marriage in the face of biblical teaching, our national history, and popular opinion. We would also repeat our opposition to allowing civil partnerships to be registered in churches.
The blog Cranmer tries to sort out what is really being said by the Archbishop and Lambeth Palace and the British government.
Permitting religious buildings to be used for the blessing of civil partnerships is not the same as imposing a redefinition of marriage upon the Established Church.
Re: headline — I use any excuse to use that word which has fascinated me since childhood!