Thursday, June 16, 2011

From Thinking Anglicans

Archbishop Jensen on same-sex marriage

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Same-sex marriage will lead to polygamy, says Jensen

ALLOWING same-sex couples to marry could lead to the acceptance of polygamy and incest, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, has warned.

Writing in the church’s newspaper, Southern Cross, Dr Jensen said the push for same-sex unions to be enshrined in the Marriage Act was not a drive for the extension of rights but the redefinition of ”one of the indispensable foundations of community”…

The full text of Archbishop Jensen’s article in Southern Cross titled Real Marriage can be found here (pdf).

Reaction in Australia was quite strong, see these letters, and also this report: Jensen gay marriage comments alarmist: AME.

Australian Marriage Equality convenor Alex Greenwich hit back at the comments, saying any amendments to the Marriage Act would only mean that celebrants outside the Anglican community could perform same-sex marriages.

“The Archbishop should acknowledge we live in a secular, multi-faith society, and as such he must understand that his views should not be imposed on those religions that want to perform same-sex marriages, such as the Quakers and progressive Synagogues,” Mr Greenwich said in a statement on Saturday.

“Not one of the alarmist predictions made by the Archbishop have come to pass in any of the countries that allow same-sex marriages to take place, including Catholic Spain, Portugal and Argentina.”

Posted by Simon Sarmiento on Wednesday, 15 June 2011 at 8:23am BST

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