Legalising homosexual marriage: an unholy alliance
15 April 2011
There are plans afoot to use Holyrood during the next Parliamentary session to redefine marriage to include homosexual partnerships.
The details are explained in a Christian Institute briefing paper.
Marriage law is devolved to the Scottish Parliament, but the SNP think that introducing same-sex marriage would have such widespread consequences that only Westminster could legislate. However, homosexual campaigners want to push the Scottish Parliament into legislating and thereby introduce an anomaly which will force the hand of the Westminster Parliament to follow suit.
In the van of this movement is the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which has been encouraged to use its “enforcement powers” even more often, according to a controversial new recommendation by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. This is the same body who robustly pursued the Penzance Christian hotel owners and wanted to get more than its pound of flesh. It has faced media criticism and has been responsible for such a litany of public relations gaffes that Christians can have no confidence in them. It is this attitude which warrants calling the Equality and Human Rights Commission the Thought Police, whose interfering bully-boy tactics were exposed when they wanted to increase the fine on the Penzance hotel owners, and whose attitudes were exposed when they suggested that Christian doctrine was an infection to be resisted.
In the background is the homosexual lobby group Stonewall which receives money from 33 Scottish public bodies. Its accounts 2010 p. 19 show some of the well-known bodies funding this group.
It is evident that none of the main parties - Labour, Lib Dems, not even the Tories, nor the SNP - will resist this, and the Greens are in the vanguard. Christians need a distinctly Christian voice in the Scottish Parliament, and sooner rather than later. It will be too late at the next Election, and this is the moment for Christians to act.
Christians in Glasgow can vote for a Christian MSP and, in doing so, they may prevent Patrick Harvie returning as an MSP. He is the Green Party spokesman who is driving the homosexual agenda in the Scottish Parliament.
Christians cannot rely upon the Tories to protect Christian principles. The STV website states: “Tory attitudes on gay rights have shifted substantially under David Cameron’s leadership”. Only a few years ago, the Conservatives supported Clause 28, the law prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality in schools, which David Cameron has now ditched. As for whether Christians who have Biblical views on homosexuality are welcome in the Conservative Party, Ms Annabel Goldie, leader of the Scottish Tory MSPs, said: “David Cameron has made clear that the Conservative Party is a modern party for the 21st century.” This demonstrates a spineless servility to the leader of the Party.
Labour and the Lib Dems are no help in this battle. The Greens have long championed homosexual marriage. The SNP has pledged to discuss homosexual marriage in its Manifesto.
This debate will be played out in the Scottish Parliament before its campaign and assault on Westminster. But it will be no game. Rather it will be the battleground for freedom of conscience and expression of Christian belief. If this is passed, Biblical teaching on homosexuality will be outlawed and Christians will be persecuted.
The Scottish Christian Party warned about the consequences of the Sexual Orientation Regulations in its 2007 Scottish Party Political Broadcast. The Rev. George Hargreaves, the Scottish leader at that time, warned: “Next week, on the 30th April, Regulations come in that affect Christians. The Sexual Orientation Regulations come into force. We must stop this. Go out and vote for the Scottish Christian Party on May 3rd. It is the only way to stop the Sexual Orientation Regulations becoming law, which is the first stage of persecution of Christians in this land.”
Four years on, the people of Scotland are in danger of voting for MSPs who will legalise homosexual marriage. This is another wake-up call to Christians to vote for Christian MSPs. Another five years may be TOO LATE.
National Churches
Other places for assault are the national churches - the Church of Scotland and the Church of England.
A gagging order was put upon Church of Scotland ministers and office-bearers discussing homosexuality issues after the induction of a practising homosexual to Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen, where he shares the manse with his boyfriend. General Assembly managers acted to allow members in the church to become accustomed to the new temperature before the next stage of slowing raising the temperature further. They have proved to be better politicians than the Church of England which has lost ordained personnel to the Roman fold, with Rome easing the path for them.
The UK Government has committed itself to a consultation on same-sex marriage, and it is, separately, consulting on whether to allow homosexual civil partnerships to be registered in churches in England and Wales. David Cameron backs same-sex ‘marriage’ and he wishes to carry on with the break-neck speed he is doing everything else in his government. To avoid revolt in his own Party, and threaten his own job, he says the Church of England should accept ‘full equality’ for homosexuals. He wants the Church of England to change the minds of middle England for him. Why anyone should listen to him bossing around the Church of England is anyone’s guess. But Christians should listen to their Lord. David Cameron also thinks we should change the constitutional position about the monarch being a Roman Catholic. This man is in a hurry and someone needs to slow him down.
Will the national churches fail the nation - or will the Lord raise up an effective voice among them?
