An awkward alliance

The last chance for the Christian bishops and the pro-life movement to block gay marriage legislation resides now in the House of Lords, after the bill was passed on May 21 in the House of Commons with a majority of 366 to 161. In a document published on the eve of the vote, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference called for amendments to protect the practice of religion and freedom of speech. David Cameron managed to get the bill through only with help by the Labour Party, his natural opponent.Catholic Bishops write to MPs. The Catholic Primate Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Peter Smith made clear, in a joint statement sent a few days ago to MPs who were preparing to vote, that with this legislation “Marriage will become an institution in which openness to children, and with it the responsibility on fathers and mothers to remain together to care for children born into their family, is no longer central to society’s understanding of marriage”. The bishops also proposed a series of amendments aimed at protecting freedom of speech and the practice of their religion. Specifically, they asked that the law be amended to ensure that “citizens are not discriminated against if they express opinions contrary to same-sex marriages”, “that religious schools are not obliged to support and promote such marriages”, that “a registrar can refrain from conducting civil same sex marriages on the ground that she or he has a conscientious objection to doing so” and “that religious organizations are not penalized in any way if they refuse to make way for same-sex marriages”.Anglican bishops concerned. The Catholic bishops’ concerns are shared by the Church of England which warned in a meeting with MPs that “young Christians and public officials will be forced to choose between their conscience and their careers on the issue of same-sex marriages”. In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, the Catholic Archbishop Peter Smith and the heads of Protestant organizations “Co-Mission” and “Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches” have warned that hundreds of thousands of young Christians might decide not to pursue careers as teachers, doctors, nurses or public officials because of the new law. 500 imams have also accused the government of attacking “the pillar of family life”.The House of Lords will have the final say. MPs have chosen to ignore the nearly 700,000 signatures collected by the “Coalition for marriage” as well as those who chose to demonstrate outside Westminster in recent days. In addition, a poll showed that 40,000 teachers wished not to incorporate gay marriage in their lessons. There is a chance that the House of Lords will be more conciliatory when discussion of the law begins on June 3rd. “This law will find greater opposition in the House of Lords where Lord Dear has already said he will speak against the legislation right from the first debate, which is unusual. This is an unusual legislation, it was not part of any party’s platform, nor was it mentioned in the Queen’s speech, which announces new legislative packages for the current year”, says Paul Tully, spokesperson for the “Society for the Protection of Unborn Children”, one of the most active groups within the pro-life movement. According to Andrea Minichiello Williams, director of “Christian Concern”, a Christian association that brought together over 300 people to protest outside Westminster, “there has been massive uprising in the Conservative Party against this bill that was rushed through parliament and that has been introduced without any mandate. David Cameron has openly defended the law before the House of Commons because he knows that it is deeply unpopular”, said the director of “Christian Concern”.