Daily Mail

FROZEN PLANET Archbishop: Why it would be wrong to legalise gay marriage

- By Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspond­ent s.doughty@dailymail.co.uk

Marriage will ONLY remain the bedrock of society if it is between a man and a woman

by Lord Carey

THE law has no right to legalise same- sex marriage, the Archbishop of Canterbury declared yesterday.

Dr Rowan Williams said a new marriage law for gay couples would a mount to f o r c i ng unwanted change on the rest of the nation.

He also said it would be wrong to legalise assisted dying because of the threat it would pose to the vulnerable and because it would go against the beliefs of most people.

In a key speech on human rights, the head of the Anglican Church put his weight behind other leading clergy who have launched a powerful campaign to prevent David Cameron from going ahead with his plan to allow the full rights of marriage to same-sex couples.

Dr Williams’s predecesso­r in Lambeth Palace, Lord Carey, notably told the Mail l ast week that same-sex marriage l aws would be ‘ one of the greatest political power grabs in history’.

Dr Williams’s statement means the Prime Minister now knows he will face opposition from the liberal-minded leadership of the Church of England – as well as its determined traditiona­lists – if he continues on the track towards legalised gay marriage.

The Archbishop said human rights law ‘falls short of a legal charter to promote change in institutio­ns’.

Dr Williams added: ‘ If it is said that a failure to legalise assisted suicide – or same-sex marriage – perpetuate­s stigma or marginalis­ation for some people, the reply must be, I believe, that issues like stigma and marginalis­ation have to be addressed at the level of culture rather than law.’

The Archbishop indicated to MPS earlier this week that Cofe churches would never be used to solemnise gay marriages and Anglican officials underlined that the Church says marriage must remain a union between a man and a woman.

Dr Williams’s interventi­on in the argument yesterday, in a speech to a World Council of Churches gathering in Geneva, echoed, in typically mild academic language, the sentiments expressed by Lord Carey.

The Archbishop has l ong been a personal supporter of gay rights and his lecture yesterday insisted Christians must accept that gay equality laws are here to stay.

But he has also listened to the concerns of traditiona­l Christian believers since he began his career at Lambeth Palace in 2003 by refusing to allow an openly gay cleric to take a post as a Cofe bishop.

His remarks yesterday came after Coalition ministers insisted they would go ahead with a same-sex marriage law whatever the churches say.

Equality minister Lynne Feathersto­ne said last week the churches did not own marriage law. She added a samesex marriage law would be ‘about the underlying principles of family, society and personal freedoms’.

Mr Cameron declared for s a me- s e x marriage last autumn, saying: ‘Conservati­ves believe in the ties that bind us; that society is stronger when we make vows to each other and support each other.

‘I don’t support gay marriage in spite of being a Conservati­ve. I support gay marriage because I am a Conservati­ve.’

A consultati­on document on how a gay marriage law would work is due out shortly.

Dr Williams said in his speech that same- sex marriage law was wrong because it tried to impose cultural change.

He added human rights language could be ‘confused and artificial’ when it strayed from protecting the vulnerable. It could become ‘an alien culture, pressing the imperative­s of universal equality over all local custom and affinity’.

 ??  ?? From the Mail February 20
From the Mail February 20
 ??  ?? Rowan Williams: Speech
Rowan Williams: Speech

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