Gay marriage Bill — Letter to The Telegraph

Posted on May 21, 2013 
Filed under Church of England

british-islesThis letter from church leaders across England, was published in The Telegraph yesterday (20th May 2013) –

The Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill is set to isolate hundreds of thousands of young students and workers across the country who hold a fuller view of marriage based on religion or a traditional view. These young people, from teenagers to 30-year-olds, will suffer discrimination and face new risks to their careers, and futures, if the Bill passes in its present form. 

We are a diverse group of church leaders; each week, our congregations number 150,000, of whom 50,000 are aged between 13 and 30. For many in this rising generation, marriage is the union of sexual opposites, and the thread that binds generations. If the Bill passes into law without much clearer protections for freedom of speech and freedom of belief, teachers and public-sector workers will have to choose between their conscience and their career, as many will be deterred from a public-service career or from charity involvement.

The Bill is supposed to be pro-marriage, pro-equality and pro-diversity, yet, as drafted, it is none of those things. There will be anger and sadness, and this Bill will cause pain for many, without tackling prejudice against the few. We, and many young people in our congregations, are concerned about the consequences if it is passed in its current state.

The Rt Rev Peter Smith
Archbishop of Southwark

Rev John Stevens
National Director, Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches

Rev Vaughan Roberts
Rector of St Ebbe’s, Oxford

Rev Richard Coekin
Director, Co-Mission

Rev David Barry
Free Church Minister, Market Harborough

Rev David Gibbs
Vicar of St Andrew’s Leyland

Rev Christopher Hobbs
Midland Gospel Partnership

Rev Andrew McKenna
Free Church Minister, Market Harborough

Rev Justin Mote
North Western Gospel Partnership

Rev Marcus Nodder
Vicar of St Peter’s Barge, Canary Wharf

Rev Hugh Palmer
Rector of All Souls, Langham Place, London W1

Rev Paul Perkin
Vicar of St Mark’s Battersea Rise

Rev Stephen Shaw
South Western Gospel Partnership

Rev John Ross
Minister of Farnham Baptist

Rev Will Stileman
Vicar of St Mary’s, Maidenhead

Rev William Taylor
Rector of St Helen, Bishopsgate

Rev Richard Underwood
Free Church Minister, Market Harborough

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