(I would have put "marriage" in quotes but I can't figure out how to do that in the title box - it doesn't show up)


Source



Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon


Scotland: ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ “marriage” to be legalized

14-09-2012  
Filed under News, The Church in the world

Nicola_SturgeonOn July 25, 2012, the Scottish authorities announced their plan to introduce this year a law authorizing ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ “marriage”.  Following a public opinion poll in which 65% of the opinions expressed (out of a total of 80,000 persons asked) were in favor of ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ “marriage”, the Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (on the picture) asserted that “in a society that aspires to be egalitarian and tolerant, this legalization is the right choice (sic).”  The Scottish authorities, however gave assurances that no Church would be forced to organize ceremonies for these “marriages”.

“The [Scottish] Government is embarking on a dangerous, social experiment on a massive scale.  The Church looks much further than the short-term electoral time-scales of politicians,” was the reaction of a spokesman of the Catholic Church in Scotland.

If the law is actually promulgated, Scotland will become the first province of the United Kingdom to allow ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ “marriages”.  Scotland, led by the Scottish National Party that seeks independence, enjoys a wider autonomy that allows it to make its own laws in many areas, except for Defense, Foreign Affairs and fiscal and economic policies.  The government of the United Kingdom, led by the “conservative” David Cameron, for his part has committed himself to legalizing ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ “marriage” by 2015.

On August 25, more than 500 Catholic priests in Scotland read to their parishioners a letter in protest against the proposed law, the British news website Mail.online reports.  They declared:  “The teaching of the Church about marriage is unambiguous:  it is exclusively the union between one man and one woman.  It is deplorable that governments, politicians and parliaments are seeking to alter or to destroy this reality.”

The Scottish government responded by restating its intention to legalize “marriage” for persons of the same sex and to allow these civil unions to be celebrated also with religious ceremonies;  it reaffirmed, however, that no cleric would be forced to celebrate such ceremonies.

The primate of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien described ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ “marriage” as “the grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”.  He then broke off his discussions with Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister.

(Sources: Apic/mail.online – DICI no. 260 dated September 14, 2012)