Warning:
Openly gay policing minister
Nick Herbert has accused church leaders
of
sounding 'highly judgmental' when
discussing same-sex marriage
|
Openly gay
policing minister Nick Herbert has accused church leaders of sounding 'highly
judgmental' and 'intolerant' in their reaction to plans for same-sex marriage.
Mr Herbert,
who has been in a civil partnership with his partner Jason Eades since 2009,
urged the Church of England to be more cautious in the language it uses about
the highly divisive proposal.
The Tory
said he was 'getting fed up' with people saying 'you should put up with a civil
partnership'.
He told The
Times: 'I don’t think they would like it if I said, "Well, sorry, you
should accept a civil partnership too".'
'I consider
myself to be a Christian and I’ve never in my life felt more distant from the
Church than I do at the moment.'
He added:
'I think that some Christian leaders have said things that, when heard by gay
people, sound highly judgmental or intolerant. We all have to be careful of our
language.'
The
minister's warning comes days after fresh attacks from the Church of England
and Roman Catholic bishops.
The Church
of England accused the Government of failing to think through its plans to
introduce same-sex marriage, adding that the legislation would undermine the
Church’s relationship with the nation and be subject to a legal challenge from
Europe.
More...
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Concerned: Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams claimed plans for gay marriage reform 'have not been thought through and are not legally sound' |
The plans
would lead to an unprecedented clash between its own canon law - that marriage
is between a man and a woman - and that of Parliament, it added.
In a
submission to the Government’s consultation on same-sex marriage the Roman
Catholic Church in England and Wales accused the Government of putting forward
plans which were not subject to 'careful study and analysis,' and which would
'permanently diminish' the significance of marriage if they were implemented.
Mr Herbert
insisted the Government is not planning to dictate to churches, saying: 'No
religious institution should be forced to conduct a gay marriage against their
belief.'
He added:
'I didn’t come out until relatively late. You think it’s the hardest decision
that you could ever make, then once you’ve done it you feel powerful and wonder
why it was so hard. But there are still kids being bullied in school. There is
still a situation where we have no Premier League football players who feel
able to come out. The idea that this is a finished agenda is completely wrong. It’s
not.'
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