What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • How did I do with last year’s predictions?

    Here’s a run down of how I did at last year’s predictions.

    • Good results for Nigel Farage following the English local elections in May. Terrible results for Conservative Party.

    Exactly what happened. YES

    • No progress towards the marriage of same-sex couples in the Church of England

    Exactly what happened. Indeed, I think things may have gone into reverse. YES

    • Turbulent year for WordPress, which powers about half of the internet.

    The year began with Automattic dramatically cutting its contribution to development leading to stagnation in development and much acrimony. Subsequently restored. Deep divisions remain about Gutenberg. I’m claiming this as a YES.

    • 2025 will be the hottest year on record.

    Final figures yet to be calibrated but all reports indicate that this, unfortunately is a YES.

    • No trade deal for UK with US. Increasing talk of re-aligning economy closer to EU.

    Well, there was a trade deal in May called the Economic Prosperity Deal but it doesn’t seem to much and some of the basics have already been reversed. I suppose I have to be honest and say I didn’t get this quite right so it is a NO. But…

    • Ceasefire in Russia-Ukraine war but no long term solution.

    Hard to assess this one. No long term solution, certainly. There have been a series of ceasefires proposed but none seems really to have been fully implemented. Partial YES.

    • “Assisted Dying” aka doctor assisted suicide becomes legal in at least one of the jurisdictions of the British Isles.

    I have to put this down as a  NO  as it completed its parliamentary journey in the Isle of Man but hasn’t received Royal Assent yet, so not technically legal.

    • Turbulent year for economy but stock market higher at end of year than beginning. (FTSE currently at 8,173)

    Stock market at 9,931 today and there was quite a lot of volatility in the first part of the year. So this one is a YES.

    • There will be fewer Commonwealth Realms (ie countries which share the monarchy) by the end of 2025 than there are now.

    This one is a NO though there has been significant progress in that direction in Jamaica and moves that way in Grenada.

    • Philip Mountstephen.

    Well, I was pushing Philip Mounstephen’s name as he appeared to be the only senior bishop in the C of E who actually believed the [absurd] position of the C of E bishops on same-sex relationships. But it is a NO – nothing significant to report.

     

    So – five and a half out of ten this year. Not as good as some years. A couple of near misses.

     

    ,

10 responses to “A simple question about Civil Partnerships”

  1. Matthew Pemble Avatar
    Matthew Pemble

    things they haven’t thought about properly …

    Legalistically, albeit IANALNDIPOOT, I think the answer is “yes”. The implications? Much hot air, minimal action.

    For once, probably the only time since Joan of Arc, the French seem to have got this right (general civil society / religious split, not equal marriage, and pretty much on equal marriage. I note the binational issue. )

    Reply
  2. Beth Routledge Avatar
    Beth Routledge

    I don’t see anything in the motion that would prohibit a mixed-sex couple from registering a civil partnership in church, if it is that mixed-sex civil partnerships become recognised under Scots law. I think that if the SEC’s intention is to undertake the registration of Civil Partnerships exclusively for same-sex couples, that would require explicit instructions to the Committee on Canons which would require an amendment to the motion as writ.

    I don’t want this motion to be passed at all (an even casual parsing of the word civil, for heaven’s sake…), but perhaps the only thing I want less than that is for it to be passed with such an amendment. The last thing we need is to start writing new non-inclusive Canons when we’re still trying to get rid of the old ones.

    Reply
  3. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    If they do introduce Civil Partnerships in church, are they happy to have heterosexual clergy in civil partnerships even as they are pressing gay clergy to stay in civil partnerships and not marry?

    Reply
  4. Kelvin Avatar
    Kelvin

    Yes – that’s precisely the question.

    Reply
    1. margaret of the sea of galilee Avatar
      margaret of the sea of galilee

      Once upon a time on an island far away… we (myself and my then partner – male and Christian) made several approaches to various clergy to have a church marriage but without any civil component or documentation…but no one would do it.
      Now after 30 years with This Man we still cannot get married – religious marriages are only for couples who share a common religion and there is NO civil marriage option at all.
      Not complaining, just saying

      Reply
      1. Stephen Clark Avatar
        Stephen Clark

        #marriage This is a very good point
        Personally I am all for the European option of having formal/legal marriages registered by the State …independent of the Church….and then those of us who are so inclined going to Church.
        I don’t see any reason why the logical corollary should not be that if you don’t want or need legal recognition then Holy Church should just do its thing. Our former Archbishop (Ian George of Adelaide, South Australia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_George) did a lot of work about marriage when we (The Australian Anglican Church) were grappling with ‘remarriage’ of divorced persons and used to often note that “legal marriage” for everyone is a fairly recent phenomenon and that by and large it was about securing property and succession rights of title . Ordinary folk didn’t need this and so simply …married….
        We have lost sight of all this.
        In reality Anglican Churches could have married same-sex couples without legal sanction if we had been brave enough to have the courage of our convictions.

        Reply
  5. Kirstin Freeman Avatar
    Kirstin Freeman

    The more I think about this the more I think it could turn into a distraction from the main issue. Marriage is what the church offers and that should include same-sex marriage for laity and clergy alike.

    Civil Partnership should be a separate discussion as it is a separate and distinct choice that can be made. If the church decides, having worked out what the theological difference between the two is, to have a liturgy for the celebrating of Civil Partnerships as opposed to that of a marriage, then that needs to go through the Canonical process and have its own canon assigned to it.

    Reply
    1. Beth Routledge Avatar
      Beth Routledge

      My cynical side wonders if a distraction is precisely what it is supposed to be.

      Reply
  6. Kelvin Avatar
    Kelvin

    I’m still not getting an answer to my question and I asked it at our pre-synod meeting last week too. Can it really be possible that this motion has been proposed without anyone knowing the answer?

    Reply
  7. Kelvin Avatar
    Kelvin

    Would it be possible to become a bishop if one were in a religiously registered Civil Partnership?

    Is the answer different or the same if the person concerned is in an opposite sex relationship or a same-sex relationship?

    Reply

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