Archbishop Attacks Cameron's 'Gay Marriage' Plan

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron is facing a backlash from religious leaders after saying he supported plans to legalise gay marriage.

The Prime Minister said “commitment” in relationships should be valued regardless of whether it involved “a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and another man”.

But the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales and the Church of England are likely to lodge formal objections to the move when the Coalition launches an official consultation next year.

Speaking to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Mr Cameron said: “We're consulting on legalising gay marriage. To anyone who has reservations, I say: Yes, it's about equality, but it's also about something else: commitment.

“Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us; that society is stronger when we make vows to each other and support each other.

“So I don't support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I'm a Conservative.”

Under Coalition reforms, churches, synagogues and other faith centres will be able to host same-sex civil partnership registration ceremonies for the first time, including the use of religious music. » | Tim Ross, Social and Religious Affairs Editor | Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Newt Gingrich: We Will Build a Mosque When You Open a Church and Synagogue in Mecca

Church Bows to Gays Seeking Communion
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: Homosexuals can now attend communion in all parishes in the diocese of Den Bosch.

This is the outcome of a meeting between the church council of the main Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands, St. John’s Cathedral in Den Bosch, priest Geertjan Van Rossum, Vera Bergkamp of the gay organisation COC and editor-in-chief of the gay peridocial Gaykrant.

"People should decide for themselves whether or not to attend communion whatever their sexuality and should do so with a clean conscience," said a spokesperson for the diocese.

The openly gay Prince of the Carnival who was recently refused communion in the provincial town of Reusel therefore should have received it. The church's refusal to give him communion sparked protests at Roman Catholic church services up and down the Netherlands on Sunday.

During the protest, gay rights demonstrators dressed in pink and wearing wigs of the same colour walked out of the service at St. John’s after priest Geertjan van Rossum said "the correct experience of sexuality is part of the ten commandments". >>> RNW | Friday, March 05, 2010

Clergy Could Be Sued If They Refuse to Carry Out ‘Gay Marriages’, Traditionalists Fear
THE TELEGRAPH: Clergy could be sued if they refuse to carry out “gay marriages” in church, leading figures have warned.

Traditionalist bishops and peers fear that vicars could be taken to court and accused of discrimination if they turn down requests to hold civil partnerships on religious premises.

Their concerns have been raised following a landmark vote by peers that will allow the ceremonies for same-sex couples to be held in places of worship for the first time.

It is also feared that the changes would blur the line further between marriage - which churches say must be between a man and a woman - and civil partnerships.

It comes after a Government drive to outlaw bias against minority groups such as homosexuals in the Equality Bill. >>> Martin Beckford and Heidi Blake | Wednesday, 03. March 2010

Gay Couples Should Be Allowed to ‘Marry’ in Church, Government Minister Says
THE TELEGRAPH: Homosexual couples should be allowed to “marry” in churches, a Government minister has said.

Baroness Thornton, a spokesman for the Government in the House of Lords, said she was “not unsympathetic” to plans to permit civil partnerships on religious premises.

She admitted there were many “complexities” to be addressed since the ceremonies are currently secular, and because the change will be opposed by some major faiths who believe only a man and a woman can be married.

But Lady Thornton went on: “We want this dialogue to move forward and we want all those with an interest in this issue to have their say. We believe that this careful consideration will pay off in how we proceed together to the next stage of resolving this issue.”

Under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, same-sex couples are allowed to form legal unions that entitle them to the same property and tax rights as men and women who marry in register offices. It is estimated that 35,000 homosexual couples have done so.

However these ceremonies must be entirely secular, as civil marriages must be, and they cannot take place in churches, mosques, synagogues or temples.

During a Lords debate on the Equality Bill on Monday night, Lord Alli tabled an amendment that would “allow civil partnerships to take place on religious premises”.

He withdrew it after Lady Thornton pointed out it would create an “anomalous” situation whereby homosexual couples could have prayers said at their event whereas heterosexual ones could not.

It would also require registrars to carry out religious services, and for priests to conduct ceremonies outside of their places of worship, she said.
The peer added: “We fully accept the fundamental importance of this issue to many same-sex couples, and we recognise the strength of feeling that some people have about the need for change.

“We also recognise, though, that any change would bring into play some fundamental issues and would risk undermining the parity that has been carefully established between civil partnership and civil marriage. >>> Martin Beckford | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Ireland Moves Toward Gay Marriage as Church Influence Wanes
FORTH: Civil partnership likely to be approved but many want marriage

Despite being rocked by strikes, scandals and financial collapse, Ireland’s social transformation continues unabated. Thursday December 3 saw the latest rupture from the past as the Republic of Ireland became the latest country to begin the process of affording recognition to same-sex couples. Dáil Éireann, Ireland’s parliament, read and debated the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 introduced by Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern.

The Bill would, if passed, grant same-sex couples rights in relation to domestic violence, residential tenancies, succession, refugee law, pensions, medical care, access to state benefits and immigration.

Opposition to the Bill was muted. Minister Ahern has told his colleagues, Fianna Fáil lawmakers, concerned about the Civil Partnership Bill that he is ruling out a “freedom of conscience” amendment that would allow any organisations run people offended by homosexuality, such as Church halls and wedding photographers, to consider same-sex couples unmarried.

The Bill’s passage into law this month is virtually assured because of strong backing by opposition parties. However, reaction to the Bill from gay rights organisations has been mixed. >>> | Tuesday, December 08, 2009

The former St Nicholas Cathedral in Famagusta, Cyprus, was converted into a mosque. It is now the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque. Photograph: Google Images
Vatican Condemns 'Immoral' Church Conversions
THE TELEGRAPH: The Vatican has expressed alarm over the "immoral" trend for churches to be converted into bars and nightclubs.

The head of the culture department, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravisi, cited a church in Hungary which was deconsecrated and sold off to become a strip club.

"It has now become a nightclub and a stripper performs her finale on the altar each evening," he said.

The archbishop, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said dwindling numbers of worshippers meant some churches had to be sold or even demolished.

"Faced with falling number of worshippers, a phenomenon which we are also unfortunately witnessing in the centre of Rome, churches without any artistic value and which need significant work can be sold or destroyed," he said.

But he said dioceses should exercise "great caution" in ensuring that the buildings were not used for immoral purposes.

The Roman Catholic Church was offering no specific guidelines and each case should be carefully assessed on its own merits, he said. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Friday, November 27, 2009

The Church Must Stop Trivialising Easter
He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
THE TELEGRAPH: Christians must keep their nerve: the Resurrection isn’t a metaphor, it’s a physical fact

Private Eye ran a cartoon some years ago of St Peter standing in front of Jesus's Cross and saying to the other Disciples: “It's time to put this behind us now and move on.” It was a satire not on Christian belief, but on politicians and counsellors, and their trivialising mantras. It depended on Jesus's death being not just an odd, forgettable event - and that it was His Resurrection, rather than a shoulder- shrugging desire to “move on”, that got the early Christians going.

Easter was the pilot project. What God did for Jesus that explosive morning is what He intends to do for the whole creation. We who live in the interval between Jesus's Resurrection and the final rescue and transformation of the whole world are called to be new-creation people here and now. That is the hidden meaning of the greatest festival Christians have.

This true meaning has remained hidden because the Church has trivialised it and the world has rubbished it. The Church has turned Jesus's Resurrection into a “happy ending” after the dark and messy story of Good Friday, often scaling it down so that “resurrection” becomes a fancy way of saying “He went to Heaven”. Easter then means: “There really is life after death”. The world shrugs its shoulders. We may or may not believe in life after death, but we reach that conclusion independently of Jesus, of odd stories about risen bodies and empty tombs.

But “resurrection” to 1st-century Jews wasn't about “going to Heaven”: it was about the physically dead being physically alive again. Some Jews (not all) believed that God would do this for all people in the end. Nobody, including Jesus's followers, was expecting one person to be bodily raised from the dead in the middle of history. The stories of the Resurrection are certainly not “wish-fulfilments” or the result of what dodgy social science calls “cognitive dissonance”. First-century Jews who followed would-be messiahs knew that if your leader got killed by the authorities, it meant you had backed the wrong man. You then had a choice: give up the revolution or get yourself a new leader. Going around saying that he'd been raised from the dead wasn't an option.

Unless he had been. Jesus of Nazareth was certainly dead by the Friday evening; Roman soldiers were professional killers and wouldn't have allowed a not-quite-dead rebel leader to stay that way for long. When the first Christians told the story of what happened next, they were not saying: “I think he's still with us in a spiritual sense” or “I think he's gone to heaven”. All these have been suggested by people who have lost their historical and theological nerve. >>> The Right Rev Dr Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham | Saturday, April 11, 2009

Religion Today
ASSOCIATED PRESS: CAIRO, Egypt — Early in the morning two Sundays ago, hundreds of Christian Egyptians quietly slipped into a former underwear factory where they had discreetly set up a church and held their first service. Bells rang and hymns were sung.

A crowd of angry Muslims quickly gathered, threw stones at the building and burned banners that said, "No to the church." They tried to storm the gates, clashed with police and chanted, "The church has fallen, the priest is dead," according to witnesses.

In fact, no one died, but 13 people were reported injured. For Egyptians in general, the incident in the blue-collar district of Ain Shams served as a warning that Muslim-Christian clashes, largely confined to the south of the country in recent years, have seeped into the capital.

Tempers are flaring as Islamic conservatism gains ground and Christians grow increasingly resentful about discrimination by the Muslim majority. The Ain Shams incident highlights that even in Cairo — seen as more cosmopolitan in its sectarian relations than the rural south — suspicions run between the communities. Muslim and Christian neighbors also are competing over who can set up houses of worship and where.

"We don't want to hear their hymns and for sure, they don't want to hear our prayers," a Muslim woman who lives in the area said as she shopped at a dairy store. >>> By Maggie Michael | December 3, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Andy Burnham: Churches Should Be Turned into Gyms
Comments like this from the so-called ‘Culture Secretary’ show the depths of moral depravity to which the ‘Great Britain’ has sunk! They also show that our leaders are totally and utterly clueless. Instead of going with the flow of moral decline, they should be looking for ways to lead us back to a way of life with a higher purpose. It used to be done through education and example.

It is disgraceful for this man to suggest to the nation that their religious cultural heritage is worthless, for this suggestion is tantamout to that. - ©Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, has suggested churches with low attendance could be turned into gyms, restaurants and multi-faith centres.

Mr Burnham said while it was important to preserve the architectural beauty of some of the churches, many of which have listed status, they may serve the community better by becoming secular.

His comments follow his suggestion earlier this month that libraries could benefit from being modernised with coffee bars and abolishing the silence rule.

Mr Burnham said if the UK could not preserve its churches: "We need to find new purposes with the support of the local community and we need to increase secular interest in our church heritage."

He used the example of the recent multi-million pound renovation of All Souls Church in Bolton, an Anglican church which has "found a new multi-faith, multi-racial community to serve." >>> By Chris Irvine | October 31, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>

The Church of Oprah

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Tutu Chides Church Over Stance on Homosexuality
Photo of Archbishop Desmond Tutu courtesy of the BBC
BBC: South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has criticised the Anglican Church and its leadership for its attitudes towards homosexuality.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, he said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had failed to demonstrate that God is "welcoming".

He also repeated accusations that the Church was "obsessed" with the issue of gay priests.

He said it should rather be focusing on global problems such as Aids.

"Our world is facing problems - poverty, HIV and Aids - a devastating pandemic, and conflict," said Archbishop Tutu, 76.

"God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another.

"In the face of all of that, our Church, especially the Anglican Church, at this time is almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality."

Criticising Dr Williams, he said: "Why doesn't he demonstrate a particular attribute of God's which is that God is a welcoming God." Tutu chides Church for gay stance (more)

Mark Alexander