Ringing the bells for same-sex marriage

24th August 2012, 1:00am

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Ringing the bells for same-sex marriage

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/ringing-bells-same-sex-marriage-0

I wonder whether anybody without strong religious convictions objects to equal marriage. Certainly, those groups that are shouting loudest about the alleged immorality of it all claim some sort of religious affiliation.

The Catholic Church, the Muslim Council of Britain and the Christian Institute were all given as examples of groups opposing equal marriage in last week’s News Focus, “Plan to legalise gay marriage in Scotland creates a divide”.

The Christian Institute is apparently delivering leaflets asking, “Do you want primary schoolchildren to be taught that two men can marry?” My answer is, “Yes, I do”. I want children to be brought up to believe that equal marriage is right and normal, and that love should be celebrated, whatever the configuration of individuals involved. I do not want them to be taught the bigoted beliefs of any religious denomination that marginalises and stigmatises people simply because of their sexuality.

I admit that I had to Google the Christian Institute, never having heard of it - and discovered that its page of Scottish news contained five main headlines, all of which contained the words “gay marriage”. Of the 15 “other” stories listed on the page, 14 were about equal marriage, and the other one was about online pornography (who says religions aren’t obsessed with sex?).

Is nothing else happening in Scotland that they have a view on? No burning social injustices to bring to people’s attention? Shouldn’t being Christian mean railing against poverty, domestic abuse and child neglect? Apparently, it is a better use of their time and energy to protest against equal marriage.

Organised religion does far more to divide society than two people in a loving, committed relationship wanting to get married ever could. And if there are any non-religious individuals who object to equal marriage, I haven’t seen any evidence of them.

Sally Watson, Aberdeen.

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