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Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu believes that marriage should stay between a man and a women and centuries of tradition should not be overturned by gay marriage.
Sentamu, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England doesn’t however, object to Civil Partnerships but in an interview with the Telegraph recently referred to them as being ‘friendships.’
“We supported Civil Partnerships because I believe that friendships are good for everybody” he said.
“If you genuinely would like the registration of civil partnerships to happen in a more general way, most people will say they can see the drift. But if you begin to call those ‘marriage’, you’re trying to change the English language.”
Peter Tatchell, the co-ordinator of the Equal Love campaign disagrees with Sentamu’s opinions.
“It is not a Christian value to demand legal discrimination against gay couples and to treat them as inferior, second-class citizens with fewer rights than everyone else.”
For the further information on the story visit The Telegraph and The Gaurdian.
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Of course the Archbishop is entitled to his opinion, but as a person in a somewhat powerful and (increasingly-less) influential position, he should be more judicious and discerning. His assertion that “. . . marriage should stay between a man and a woman and centuries of tradition should not be overturned by gay marriage. . . ” is rather flawed.
The fact that I was myself an Ordained clergy before leaving the Church to marry a man (our relationship is now in its ninth year) puts me in a position of being able to categorically state that our marriage has done absolutely nothing to ‘overturn’ heterosexual marriages. Marriages between men and woman haven’t suffered a scintilla as a result of mine or any other gay marriage. They limp along as they always have.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Dr. John want to return to the days when women were expected to vow to ‘obey’ their husbands when tying the knot, or see him wanting to reverse the Ordination of women as Clergy in his ever-shrinking English enclave of Anglicanism–except he wouldn’t dare utter those thoughts out loud. Instead, he levels his 19th Century theological views at the vulnerable and forward-thinking, whom he knows he can still attack without risking too much blowback.
There are many ways of opening ones eyes to the Scriptures. One may hope Dr. Sentamu finds new eyes through the grace of The Holy Spirit, which ever illuminates new understandings to those who may yet wish to stop wandering in their self-imposed medieval darkness.