Thread: Same sex marriage

There's a gay theme emerging on the pie thread as I type.
Very exciting. Fast-paced, too.

^There are 3 pie threads

Too many to keep up with!

Which one is the gayest?

Scottish Episcopal Church approves gay marriage

The Scottish Episcopal Church has voted to allow gay couples to marry in church.
It makes it the first major Christian church in the UK to allow same-sex marriages.

The vote to amend canon law on marriage, removing the stipulation that it is between a man and a woman, was carried by the Synod in Edinburgh.

It means that gay Christians from any Anglican Church can now ask to be married in a Scottish Episcopal Church.

Clergy who wish to officiate at gay marriages will have to "opt-in".

The church said this meant that those who disagreed with gay marriage would be protected and not have to act against their conscience.

The Episcopal Church's Bishop of Edinburgh, The Right Reverend Dr John Armes, said: "I am very pleased for the couples who can now have their relationships recognised by the church and blessed by God.

"I'm also pleased for what this means about our church and the way we have been able to do this. But obviously any change like this creates pain and hurt in some as well, so as a bishop of the church I feel for them."

Passionate debate

The vote to allow same-sex marriage - which required the backing of at least two thirds of each house of Bishops, Clergy and Laity - has left the church at odds with most of the rest of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

A group of global Anglican traditionalists have now announced that they will appoint a missionary bishop "to serve the needs of those who oppose gay marriage".

A senior figure in the group, Archbishop Foley Beach, said: "Today's decision by the Scottish Episcopal Church to change the biblical and historic definition of marriage has highlighted the need to respond to the cries and pleas of those Scots who today have been marginalised by their leaders.

"The attempt to redefine marriage is not one that a faithful Christian can support."
At last year's Synod, members of the Church agreed to send the issue for discussion to its seven dioceses.

Six of them voted in favour of amending the law. Only Aberdeen and Orkney voted against the proposal.

This vote to change canon law, opening marriage to same sex couples, isn't just the latest skirmish in the religious war between traditionalist Christians and those of a more liberal leaning.

It will have profound consequences, because the issue of gay relationships has become a touchstone for those who believe that the Anglican Church has lost its way, and needs to be renewed.

Many Christians who live in the global south, where the 80-plus million Anglican Communion is at its strongest, look with horror at what they see as moves to legitimise gay relationships and lifestyles.

'Ignoring the will of God'

They not only disapprove of those lifestyles, but they see moves such as the ordination of gay clergy as evidence that the church is ignoring the will of God.

The head of the Anglican Communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury and he's come under enormous pressure from bishops in Africa and Asia to stand firm on this issue.

Those bishops are growing in influence and have formed an organisation - Gafcon - which is directly challenging the more liberal Christians of the global north.

They will be emboldened by this vote, even if they disapprove of it - and it may hasten a split in the communion, with power moving south to the churches of Africa.

Same sex marriage became legal in Scotland at the end of 2014 but the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church opposed the move.

The issue has provoked passionate debate within the Anglican Communion.
In January last year, the communion sanctioned the US Episcopal Church when it decided to allow gay marriage in church.

However, last month the Church of Scotland voted to approve a report which could allow ministers to conduct same-sex weddings in the future.

And in February, a report opposing gay marriage was opposed by the Church of England's Synod.

'Departure from faith'

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion described the Episcopal Church's decision as "a departure from the faith and teaching upheld by the overwhelming majority of Anglican provinces on the doctrine of marriage".

Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon said: "The churches of the Anglican Communion are autonomous and free to make their own decisions on canon law. The Scottish Episcopal Church is one of 38, soon to be 39, provinces covering more than 165 countries around the world.

"As Secretary General, I want the churches within the Anglican Communion to remain committed to walking together in the love of Christ and to working out how we can maintain our unity and uphold the value of every individual in spite of deeply-held differences. It is important to stress the Communion's strong opposition to the criminalisation of LGBTIQ+ people.

"The primates of the Communion will be meeting in Canterbury in October. I am sure today's decision will be among the topics which will be prayerfully discussed. There will be no formal response to the SEC's vote until the primates have met."

'Really positive message'

The equality campaign group Stonewall Scotland said it was "delighted" with the outcome of the vote.

The groups's director Colin Macfarlane said: "This step allows couples to celebrate their love within their faith and sends a really positive message to other LGBT people, both here and around the world.

"It signals that members of the church welcome, recognise and respect LGBT people as part of the faith community."

The Student Christian Movement UK said: "We hope this is a watershed for LGBT inclusion in UK churches.

"Our prayers go out to all LGBT Christians who have been hurt by the Episcopal Church, and we hope this may be a turning point for healing and reconciliation."

Scottish Episcopal Church approves gay marriage - BBC News

I wonder if there'll ever be a race between churches, and between states, to NOT be last in changing.
We're sorta seeing the beginning of that race.

...how such a creature as an "LGBT Christian" can exist is beyond me...some folks just can't get enough of the stick...

Would have been way more interesting if they had offered an alternative blessing.

The church is missing a great opportunity to drive wedge between the gay lobby and public opinion.

increasingly, a wedge is becoming unnecessary...

Originally Posted by tomcat

...how such a creature as an "LGBT Christian" can exist is beyond me...some folks just can't get enough of the stick...

Why you gots to be talkin' smack about my Trump loving evangelical lesbian sister and her better half?

^

Don't take it to heart fella, the rules are simple.

If Faggotry is within the immediate Family then it's quite Ok and No biggy at all that's unless you do not like your family member and then the rules are invalid.

If no Faggotry in Family then fuk it, slag fuk out of Faggots for being sick Mo Fo's eh.

Originally Posted by tomcat

increasingly, a wedge is becoming unnecessary...

why?
are gays switching back to fisting

Lots of good news coming in during Pride month...

Originally Posted by tomcat

Lots of good news coming in during Pride month...

Come on out with it !

Has a cure been found ?
Has the sick experiment of homos adopting vulnerable children being stopped?
Is the prancing time to be renamed Shame Month?
Have gays finally grown up, and taken responsibility for starting AIDS and offered to pay compensation to normal victims?
Has a brace for limp wrists been perfected?
Is there to be a ban on gays using public mens toilets, gym changing rooms etc ?
Are Elton Johns days finally numbered?
Has the de-facto truce between Islamic State and the gay community broken down, or is their shared aim of destroying western traditional society still paramount ?

Originally Posted by tomcat

..."to some extent..."? Who determines the correct "extent"?

Sorry TC couldn't help myself. Impossible to put a measurement on it, but it goes to my firmly held belief that none of us is equal. Men and women are not equal they are just different and blessed with a different range of qualities and weaknesses.
If my supposition is correct, then it applies to gays and heterosexuals too.
Confusing isn't it?
As far as organized religion goes, it is an anachronism that should be buried starting with its leadership. Sadly such events would create a vacuum that could only be filled by something worse.

good news keeps coming
LGBT activists prevented from assembling in Istanbul

LGBT activists prevented from assembling in Istanbul | Fox News

Originally Posted by blue

good news keeps coming
LGBT activists prevented from assembling in Istanbul

LGBT activists prevented from assembling in Istanbul | Fox News

See, you right-wingers have more in common with some Middle Eastern Muslims than you think.

Originally Posted by chassamui

Impossible to put a measurement on it

disagree: equality under the law is an attainable goal that applies to all...

Originally Posted by tomcat

isagree: equality under the law is an attainable goal that applies to all...

Perhaps not when the enforcement of such daft LAWS is arbitrary and subjective.

perhaps so when enforcement of equality laws is arbitrated by an impartial judiciary...

Sadly even an impartial judiciary, if such a beast existed, would have no part in law enforcement.

We seem to be going round in circles here TC.

I am happy that folk should be treated equally by the law, on the strict understanding that for men and women, gay or heterosexual, no two people are actually equal. They are different and I applaud and support that difference.

Churches should be able to refuse to marry same sex couples if they so desire and its against their religion/denomination.

Churches should be able to refuse to marry same sex couples if they so desire and its against their religion/denomination.

Churches should be damned.

Originally Posted by tomcat

The Rev. James Martin’s latest book — “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the L.G.B.T. Community Can Enter Into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion and Sensitivity” — also calls for a gentler approach. Of the Paprocki decree, the noted Jesuit author, said in a pointed Facebook post:

If bishops ban members of same-sex marriages from receiving a Catholic funeral, they also have to be consistent. They must also ban divorced and remarried Catholics who have not received annulments, women who has or man who fathers a child out of wedlock, members of straight couples who are living together before marriage, and anyone using birth control. For those are all against church teaching as well. Moreover, they must ban anyone who does not care for the poor, or care for the environment, and anyone who supports torture, for those are church teachings too. More basically, they must ban people who are not loving, not forgiving and not merciful, for these represent the teachings of Jesus, the most fundamental of all church teachings. To focus only on LGBT people, without a similar focus on the moral and sexual behavior of straight people is, in the words of the Catechism, a “sign of unjust discrimination

Originally Posted by Slick

Churches should be able to refuse to marry same sex couples if they so desire and its against their religion/denomination.

I agree.

And they should also stop pretending like they aren't epically hypocritical and that some use religion to hide behind and excuse their own hatred, ignorance and bigotry, towards anyone who is different from them. Quid pro quo.

Oh, and they should lose that whole tax-exempt thing also.