I know this has taken a few days, but I feel quite stunned that Rowan Williams has "sided" with the Catholic church over the issue of exemption from the Equalities bill and gay & lesbian couples rights to adopt children. This does not feel like my church. It has made me feel so angry that Christians are asking to be allowed to treat people differently, who are we to say people should not be allowed to care for a child who is without a family because of their sexuality. In the church i go to - we want people to be who they are and this kind of statement makes me (and i would imagine most gay and lesbian Christians?) feel more alienated from the church.Having just written all this i see Tony Blair has done the right thing ... click here
1 comment:
Arghhhh
That's how this whole thing makes me feel. The church is not above Human Rights laws (which are above the law of the land), and it shouldn't want to be either. The logical conclusion of the argument that the new anti-discrimination laws infringe on the freedom to act according to Christian conscience is that bigotry and discrimination are part of the Christian conscience. Well that's not exactly what I get out of the teachings of Jesus.
The Church says it has taken its stance because it has put the interests of the Child first, but gives no credible reason why discriminating against would-be adopting couples will help children. And I just want to point out that The Church hardly has a good track record on what's good for children.
If another faith group was pleaing exemption from women equailty acts on grounds of conscience, or the Catrholic church was refusing to accept a re-mairried divorced couple for apodtion (not outside of their thinking about morality and conscience) then we wouldn't even be having this debate. Thankfully Tony Blair has done the right thing, but I fear that his comprimise of allowing a long transition period will only help The Church to bring this issue up again in Parliment and the Lords during this time.
As for Rowan Williams, I'm disgusted with his stance and the Anglican Church in general at the moment. It's a shame the hierarchy dosen't seem too representative of the Anglican congregations I know.
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