This morning, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, appeared on the BBC’s flagship news and current affairs broadcast, The Today Pogramme.

You can hear the interview here, in which the Cardinal argues that the recognition of homosexual “marriage” would be in contravention of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. He also draws attention to the fact that as an institution, marriage pre-dates government.

The Cardinal is not the only churchman to have spoken out on the subject, as John Duddington’s CTS bookletChristians and the state explains:

“At present under the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 it is possible for homosexual couples to enter into a civil partnership but not to marry. However in 2011 the UK Government and the Scottish Government said that they were to begin consultations on the legalising of same-sex marriage. This is despite the clear statement of the Government, when civil partnerships were legalized, that it had no intention of introducing same-sex marriage.

Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark has said that

‘Marriage does not belong to the state any more than it belongs to the church. It is a fundamental human institution rooted in human nature itself’.

Thus Catholics would argue that any legislation providing for same sex marriages is against the natural law and as such we are bound to oppose any law which allows it.

Pope Benedict XVI, whilst not referring directly to UK legislation on civil partnerships, has referred to what he sees as the danger of the relationship between man and woman

‘becoming increasingly detached from legal forms, whilst at the same time homosexual partnerships are increasingly viewed as equal in rank to marriage’. This trend, he says, departs from the ‘entire moral history of mankind’.”

Christians and the state is available from CTS priced £2.50

---

Of related interest:

	Homosexuality - The Church calls all people to chastity. This booklet explains the basis and content of what the Church teaches about homosexuality and same sex attraction.
	Democracy and Tyranny – The Church’s teaching authority has for some time now addressed the question of the better ordering of human societies, and which form of government best promotes human flourishing.

---