It is not very often that Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians join forces, but when it comes to the egregious transgression of making the baby Jesus cry by contemplating to give all humans the right to marry irrespective of the makeup of their sex organs, then all differences between the Christian faiths are forgotten. It is a particularly disgusting spectacle and a disgrace what occurred in churches all around Australia today.
Top Anglican and Catholic clergy have penned statements to be read out or distributed at Sunday services, warning a change to the Marriage Act allowing gay or lesbian couples to wed would be inconsistent with religious teachings.
The Greek Orthodox Church wrote a similar statement in May that is expected to be read out this weekend.
Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen will call on parishioners to contact their federal representatives, saying same-sex marriage is not a question of equality.
“The right to be married extends equally, but only to those who are qualified … people already married are disqualified from marrying another, and siblings are rightly disqualified from marrying each other,” he wrote.
Catholic mass attendees will hear a statement from the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, and bishops Julian Porteous, Terry Brady and Peter Comensoli.
“Instead of removing discrimination and injustice, (same-sex marriage) will cause them,” it reads.
Catholics will also receive a bookmark warning the legalisation of same-sex marriage will make it “very difficult” for Catholics to have their views taught in schools.
This is disgraceful, even by Christian standards. Who made the churches the authority over who is “qualified” to marry ?
I hope that Christians are not readily going to believe the fearmongering and distortions about the proposed changes to the Marriage Act, that is being spread by these Bishops and lobby groups like Jimmy and the Homophobes the Australian Christian Lobby. There are signs of hope however, and that people have enough of being told what to do and to believe by dogmatic fools in robes who cling to 2000 year old poetry as a guide to how to live your life, fools with no authority other than the one bestowed upon them by their own sect.
I read that some Catholic and Anglican churches in Brisbane did not read out the statement today, and I also note that at least one Baptist pastor in Sydney has refused to read the statement to his congregation. Well, good on him.
A majority of Christians support marriage equality in this country. Why do the fossils who are in charge of the major Christian churches not respect the will of their customers, and instead embark on this embarrassing campaign to dictate to their flock what to think and who to lobby ? If those clowns base their decision to oppose marriage equality for same-sex couples on the Holy Bible and Christian tradition, then why is it not allowed for men to have as many wifes, concubines and sex slaves as they want anymore ? Why doesn’t a virgin who is raped have to marry her rapist anymore ? That is the Christian tradition, after all. The fact of the matter is that things change, societies change, and just as we don’t have slaves and polygamy anymore (generally speaking), we don’t have good reasons to discriminate against loving couples who want the rights and responsibilities that come with marriage, solely based on the makeup of their genitalia.
The one thing that never changes is that Christians cherrypick from the Bible, and in this case, sell us the “nuclear family” theory. But that was the exemption in that book, not the rule. What that means is that those Bishops opposing gay marriage are not doing so by authority of any god, but rather use that book as a shield to hide their own homophobia and bigotry. And sadly, their position in our society is such that they have the means and opportunity to spread those antiquated views among a large number of citizens. I just sincerely hope that people are clever enough to see through the Christian lies.
