The campaign against the Scottish government's proposals to legislate for gay marriage reached critical mass last week - if you'll excuse the pun - with two senior members of the Scottish Roman Catholic hierarchy backing the former SNP leader, Gordon Wilson's call for a referendum on the issue. Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow and Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell have condemned same sex marriage as an abomination. "Those in government need to be respectfully reminded", said Archbishop Conti, that a mandate to govern does not include a mandate to reconstruct society on ideological grounds, nor to undermine the very institution which, from the beginning, has been universally acknowledged as the natural order and bedrock of society, namely marriage and the family". In other words: Alex, get your pink tanks off our lawn.
Archbishop Devine went even further: "We now have a straight fight between faith and atheism, morality and amorality, a culture of life and a culture of death,” he said last week. “The institution of marriage should not be corrupted by the transient fashions of society or by malevolent forces seeking to undermine the place of religious faith in society.” This is turning into a Holyrood epic, with pointed hats firmly pointed at the SNP government. Alex is ducking for cover.
Now as an atheist, or rather a humanist, I have to object here that the gay marriage issue is not about undermining religious faith and undermining he natural order of society, whatever that is, still less an attack on religion. Actually, if truth be told, the concept of same sex marriage is a triumph for the traditionalists and for people of faith. It is an admission that there is something more to love than living together and that relationships need
to be put on a firmer moral foundation. That moral foundation for - most people - still seems to be the essentially the Christian, to the extent that marriage is a Christian institution.
The fact that even gay people - the ultimate sexual outsiders- are now are seeking the sanction of marriage is surly the most obvious confirmation of that. If there really is a straight fight going on, the Christians appear to have won. That so many senior figures seem not
Only twenty years ago, atheists, feminists and marxists condemned the "nuclear family" and marriage as a bourgeois institution that served to oppress women and block social progress. Marriage was seen as inherently conservative, as a transmission belt for reactionary attitudes of nationalism and patriarchy. Radical pyschiatrists like R.D. Laing - who has heard of him recently - railed against marriage as the cause of mental illness and even extreme political movements. In the sixties and seventies, people tried all sorts of alternatives to marriage - communes, 'open' relationships, serial adultery. Marriage appears to have emerged from arguably the greatest challenge it has faced in its two thousand year history.
Gay marriage is now supported by the Quakers, the Episcopalian Church and unitarians. The Church of Scotland has opened the door for gay marriage by accepting in principle the presence of openly gay and lesbian ministers. It would surely be inconceivable for the Kirk to allow homosexuals to speak God's word from the pulpit and yet not allow them to marry each other. Why is it that the Roman Catholic hierarchy seem to want to make this a political issue rather than a moral one?
Gay marriage is now supported by the Quakers, the Episcopalian Church and unitarians. The Church of Scotland has opened the door for gay marriage by accepting in principle the presence of openly gay and lesbian ministers. It would surely be inconceivable for the Kirk to allow homosexuals to speak God's word from the pulpit and yet not allow them to marry each other. Why is it that the Roman Catholic hierarchy seem to want to make this a political issue rather than a moral one?
I am treading into deep waters here and I don't have my arm bands on, so I'll leave it there. The Church hierarchy is seeking to hijack the Scottish government's current consultation on the subject. And it has done pretty well so far, especially now that the former leader of the Scottish National Party, Gordon Wilson has come out in favour of a referendum on gay marriage. He hopes it will be rejected. I'm really not so sure: the only opinion poll I have seen on the issue suggests that 60% of Scots favour legalising gay marriage. But judging from column inches, the Bishops are ahead on points.
