MOVING A BIG BOUNDARY STONE

Lynne Featherstone is the Government Equalities Minister. She has recently got David Cameron onto her side to “push everyone from allies to adversaries to recognise what we know to be true”, namely that same sex partners have a right to be married. She has set out a timetable to bring it about by 2015.

Marriage is probably one of the biggest boundary stones we have for delineating the way we live. Now, after at least fifteen centuries (possibly from time immemorial!) this big stone is to be wrenched out of its position. The Romans and, before them, the Greeks, certainly knew about same sex relations, but I do not recall reading anywhere that they ever brought that sort of relationship into the category of marriage (which was well known, and established and honoured). I suspect that would have been anathema to them. They were too streetwise about the damage it might do to society. It’s astonishing that “what we know to be true” according to Ms. Featherstone has actually remained unknown for so long! Interestingly enough, according to the National Statistics Office, two thirds of people in the nation are reluctant to seeing such legislation enacted. They do not think it appropriate and are evidently not as convinced as the Minister might imagine!


The motive for this new development is largely in order that the legal benefits that are available in a marriage might be conferred on the partners in a same sex relationship. So, to gain this purely legal end, everything else that is wrapped up in the concept of marriage is to be ignored. This “everything else” is in fact very much more important than the legalities. At the very centre of marriage is the crucial concept that it is a union of one man and one woman, and that it is the union in which children are naturally born and nurtured with a balanced input from a man and a woman. It is a place where a child knows both its father and its mother. It is the place where the natural biological (and psychological) differences of man and woman find their proper fulfilment in a bond of love and family. Life long commitment is an essential part of this union. It is a creation ordinance of God, not a convenience of man. To play fast and loose with such an ordinance is to invite much trouble. It is a fundamental foundation of society and life. No, marriage is not just about legalities.


It is a very sad thing that Lynne Featherstone cannot see how deep the issue is. Sadder, still, that David Cameron, probably on a political wicket where he must find some points of contact with the Lib Dems, has to choose to support this issue. It was good to hear that a Church of England spokesman said, “Our view remains that a marriage is a lifelong relationship entered into by a man and a woman”. Unfortunately, at the same time, rather than cleave to its view, we learn that the Church has committed itself to a wider look at its approach to same sex relationships, and is ambivalent on whether it will allow its clergy to “marry” same sex partners in church. These caveats really mean that eventually we could see a capitulation by the Church rather than a fight for the real truth. The real danger is, of course, not from outside the Church but from opinion within. The outlook is not good.


The boundary stone of marriage has taken some severe knocks over recent decades simply by virtue of the fact that it has been neglected by a society which is both fearful of a possible negative outcome to marriage and also reluctant to take a committed responsibility. Instead it has opted to co-habit. That at least left the idea of marriage intact for those who wish to embrace it. This latest move, on the other hand, makes a mockery of marriage, and empties it of all its essential meaning. It simply makes the boundary stone irrelevant.


A few good well written letters to the Equalities Minister would not be out of place!



Bob


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