British cardinal: Gay marriage is a violation of human rights on par with slavery
64 replies, posted
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17249099[/url]
[quote=BBC News][b]The government's plans for gay marriage have been criticised by the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in Britain.[/b]
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, said the plans were a [b]"grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right"[/b].
He said the idea of redefining marriage, which David Cameron has said he supports, would [b]"shame the United Kingdom in the eyes of the world"[/b].
[b]He said it was wrong to deliberately deprive a child of a mother or father[/b].
[b]'Universally understood'[/b]
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Cardinal O'Brien said: "Since all the legal rights of marriage are already available to homosexual couples, it is clear that this proposal is not about rights, but rather is an attempt to redefine marriage for the whole of society at the behest of a small minority of activists.
"Same-sex marriage would eliminate entirely in law the basic idea of a mother and a father for every child. It would create a society which deliberately chooses to deprive a child of either a mother or a father."
He added: [b]"Imagine for a moment that the government had decided to legalise slavery but assured us that 'no one will be forced to keep a slave'.[/b]
[b]"Would such worthless assurances calm our fury? Would they justify dismantling a fundamental human right?"[/b]
Cardinal O'Brien has become the latest of several senior clergy to denounce what he calls the "madness" of the government's backing for marriage to include homosexual couples.
He accused ministers of attempting to "redefine reality" and "dismantle the universally understood meaning of marriage".
In January the Anglican Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, also insisted governments did not have the moral authority to redefine marriage.
[b]'Wish to commit'[/b]
Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said the government's consultation on gay marriage was not aimed at forcing religious groups to endorse same-sex marriages.
He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "We're not seeking to change religious marriage and we're not seeking to impose it on religious groups.
"What we are saying is that where a couple love each other and they wish to commit to each other for their life then they should be able to have a civil marriage irrespective of their sexual orientation."
Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, a former equalities minister, said she thought it was right to have same-sex marriages.
She added: "I don't want anybody to feel that this is a licence for whipping up prejudice.
"What you're talking about is individual people and their personal relationships, their love for each other and their wanting to be in a partnership or getting married. I think we should support that."
Margot James, the first openly lesbian Conservative MP, accused the cardinal of "scaremongering".
She said: "I think it is a completely unacceptable way for a prelate to talk.
"I think that the government is not trying to force Catholic churches to perform gay marriages at all. It is a purely civil matter."
Ben Summerskill, chief executive of gay rights organisation Stonewall, said: "When you read the insulting tone to which Cardinal O'Brien descends on marriage you sense an argument already lost.
"If Roman Catholics don't approve of same-sex marriage, they should make sure they don't get married to someone of the same sex."
[b]Consultation launch[/b]
Mr Cameron publicly supported gay marriage at last year's Conservative Party conference, and the Home Office said last week the government believed a loving and committed couple should "have the option of a civil marriage irrespective of their sexual orientation".
Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone will launch a consultation later this month on how to make civil marriage available to same-sex couples.
She has said she wants to challenge the view that the government does not have the right to change marriage traditions.
"It is the government's fundamental job to reflect society and to shape the future, not stay silent where it has the power to act and change things for the better," she said.
The Scottish government has held a consultation process north of the border and received more than 50,000 responses.
Many church leaders believe gay marriage would represent a further significant step in marginalising traditional religious values in society.
Earlier this week Conservative MP Peter Bone called the gay marriage plan "completely nuts".
Civil partnerships were introduced in 2005 to give same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples, but the law does not allow such unions to be referred to as marriages.
A new law allowing civil partnership ceremonies to be conducted in places of worship in England and Wales came into effect last year.
The Church of England has said it will not allow its churches to be used for civil partnership ceremonies unless the full general synod gives its consent.[/quote]
[highlight]Please note: The government is not going to force churches to administer gay marriages, and the leading LGBT pressure group Stonewall doesn't even want that. Also the majority of heterosexual weddings don't take place in church anymore.[/highlight]
Dear British Cardinal : Go back in your time machine to the 1100's, you belong there.
Stupid people have stupid beliefs
So having rights is a violation of rights? What?
[QUOTE=Keyblockor;34989631]Dear British Cardinal : Go back in your time machine to the 1100's, you belong there.[/QUOTE]
That would involve ungodly science.
Okay so we'll agree to disagree.
[QUOTE=agentgamma;34989665]So having rights is a violation of rights? What?[/QUOTE]
Don't expect logic and common sense from a religious person.
What he said is pretty fucked up and thoughtless.
And how come it isn't it enough to bunk down any catholic cardinal anti-gay bullshit by just saying that there are bad or even despicable parents/couples regardless of whether they are gay or not.
"If Roman Catholics don't approve of same-sex marriage, they should make sure they don't get married to someone of the same sex."
Made me giggle a bit, just imagining someone saying that to the foaming-at-the-mouth cardinal. Then he lunges for their throat and rips out their jugular with his teeth, and it gets less funny.
On a more serious note, the comparisons of gay marriage to some old and/or condemned practice just get more and more insulting. First it's paedophilia, polygamy (tbh can't understand what's so horrendously wrong about polygamy if all participants consent); now slavery?! Someone pull that man's head out of his arse with a goddamn rope attached to a Formula 1 car.
I can't even think of words to describe how angry I am at that cardinal. Why can't we make homophobia a proper hate crime, like racism?
[QUOTE=Terminutter;34989711]I can't even think of words to describe how angry I am at that cardinal. Why can't we make homophobia a proper hate crime, like racism?[/QUOTE]
uh what lol
a hate crime is a crime with the prime motivation being racism, homophobia, etc
[quote]Many church leaders believe gay marriage would represent a further significant step in marginalising traditional religious values in society.[/quote]
Traditions like killing unmarried women who lose their virginity, or locking away women on their period, or stoning blasphemers, killing children who swear at their parents...
Hey, you can't pick and choose.
I kind of meant how we are able to prosecute people who spread hate speech here, phrased it poorly.
So a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right, is to give humans that right, and accept them?
Christ, this guy's a damn fool
I see his point. By giving more rights to homosexuals they're obviously taking his right to keep rights from people he doesn't like away. I mean, he's basically being treated like a Jewish person in a concentration camp.
Jesus christ why do some idiots think that giving everyone the rights that they've got means they've some how got less rights?
[QUOTE=Rents;34989883]Jesus christ why do some idiots think that giving everyone the rights that they've got means they've some how got less rights?[/QUOTE]
Clearly there is an overall quota of rights in the world so if some people gain rights, everyone else loses rights in order to maintain a constant value.
Who cares? Just because they're gay doesn't mean they have to force a church to marry them. That's their problem, stay away from those.
Church and the legal system shouldn't be held together with this.
So a catholic cleric is saying that gay marriage is wrong in a land where the former king made a new religion so that he could ditch his wife.
Yep, certainly the right place to complain :v:
And another retard obviously too stupid for a real job somehow managed to work his way up in his cult and got to spew his hatred.
How surprising.
I have to agree with them. The current state of gay marriage laws is a violation of human rights on par with slavery.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;34989971]I have to agree with them. The current state of gay marriage laws is a violation of human rights on par with slavery.[/QUOTE]
If anything in this is, this separate but equal bullshit is a violation of people's rights.
It's hilarious for someone like me who knows newspapers quite well.
The Telegraph seems to pick and choose when to play the human rights card - When it's to do with, say, prisoners getting voting rights under the ECHR and UDHR, it's all "HUMAN RIGHTS ARE STUPID AND ARE USED AS EXCUSES FOR BEING SOFT ON CRIMINALS", but in this case, it's all "YOU CAN'T MAKE GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL THAT'S A VIOLATION OF OUR HUMAN RIGHTS"
So the bible says it, eh?
Exodus 35:2. "Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death."
Exodus 21:7 "And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do."
Funny thing is, the original Bible never said anything about homosexuality.
Marriage in general is on par with slavery anyway.
[QUOTE=Elgar;34990144]Marriage in general is on par with slavery anyway.[/QUOTE]
I see it more as betting someone half your stuff they you'll love them forever.
[QUOTE=Irockz;34990128]Funny thing is, the original Bible never said anything about homosexuality.[/QUOTE]
It did, and it was pretty harsh.
[I]Leviticus 18:22[/I] - Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
[I]Leviticus 20:13[/I] - If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Will someone just please fucking take all the stupid people and put them somewhere where they can't do damage?
The sexiest type of slavery
It's a part of democracy to be allowed to do shit like this, you may not like it, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to fucking do it. Freedom of choice and so on, god damn it.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.