Despite an organised and concerted effort led by Conservatives, Bishops, and other religious Peers, to stop the equal marriage Bill in its tracks, a wrecking amendment was overwhelmingly defeated in a vote last night. The Bill is now likely to make swift progress through the House of Lords before becoming law.
Speaking in the debate, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is the principal leader of the Church of England and who sits in the parliament by ‘right’ simply because of his position in the Church, opposed equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.
He stated, ‘The majority of faith groups remain very strongly against the Bill, and have expressed that view in a large number of public statements. The House of Bishops of the Church of England has also expressed a very clear majority view.’
He also referenced the issue of faith schools, referring to religious concerns that they would have to teach that same-sex marriage is equal to marriage between a woman and a man. A third of state-funded schools are faith schools and we firmly believe that they should not have opt-outs to allow homophobic teaching based on religious perspectives.
After setting out the strong opposition to equal marriage from his own church and other religious groups, Archbishop Welby went on to say, ‘It is not, at heart, a faith issue; it is about the general social good.’
Well, we firmly believe that valuing and enshrining people’s equality before the law is unquestionably a social good. We are pleased to campaign in favour of the equal marriage Bill alongside others including humanist groups, many religious people and groups such as Quakers and Unitarians, LGBT rights campaigners, and those from across the political spectrum.
The Church of England has tried to stop this important move for equality right from the off, even opposing equal civil marriage for same-sex couples let alone religious marriage. Through its representative in the House of Commons it also strongly opposed popular moves to legalise humanist marriage. Although it gained some wins – no same-sex Anglican couples will ever be allowed to marry in their own Church – ultimately it will lose. The Church should never have been in the position to wield so much influence in the first place. Disestablishment of the Church of England and abolishing the reserved seats for Bishops of the Church of England is long overdue.
Naomi Phillips
Chair, Labour Humanists
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