MAIL Online: The Church of England warned last night that it is under pressure to accept gay marriage.
But two senior bishops - writing on behalf of the CofE - said it is not prepared to abandon its traditional teachings in favour of the idea of 'gender neutral' marriage.
They said that the Church of England considers 'it is vital for the Church to maintain a critical distance from the state and to resist what the state is doing if this is at odds with Scripture.'
The fears over same sex marriage were made public at a meeting of the Church's parliament, the General Synod.
They come at a time of high tension between Labour ministers and leading churches over gay rights and equality laws[.]
The concerns were raised in a letter from Bishop of Guildford Dr Christopher Hill and Bishop of Chichester Dr John Hinds to leaders of the Swedish state church which has close and formal links with the Anglicans.
The bishops - writing on behalf of the CofE - said they could not accept beliefs 'in which the idea of a fundamental distinction between the genders is seen as irrelevant and in which marriage is therefore seen as something that can and should be gender neutral.'
Their letter was a response to moves in the Church of Sweden to offer gender neutral marriage services which could be used for either brides and grooms or for same sex couples.
But it made plain that the CofE will resist pressure from the Government in Britain to introduce any form of same sex marriage. >>> Steve Doughty | Saturday, July 11, 2009
