What is in Kelvin's Head?

Sermon preached earlier on Mary and Martha

02/08/2013

I preached this a couple of weeks ago but forgot to post it here too.

So, there I was, walking down Whitehall on holiday a few days ago. I had a ticket for the theatre in my pocket and I was in a hurry to get to the show.

And I was thinking those happy thoughts that you have when you are on holiday. I was thinking – “Why did I think it was a good idea to come to London in July… in a heatwave”

But anyway, I was on holiday and apart from melting like the tarmac all around me, I was happy.

On I went. Downing Street on my left. The Cenotaph on my right.

The Scottish Office. Banqueting House.

I was on my way to the old Whitehall theatre, now masquerading under another name.

Walking up Whitehall is something I’ve done countless times. I often stay in Westminster when I’m back in London. I know the sights and sounds well enough. I don’t consider myself a tourist when I’m there – after all I used to live down there.

And then suddenly, something caught my eye. Something pulled me up short. (more…)

4 responses to “The SNP and Equal Marriage”

Indy

18/07/2012

I think the issue is that the SNP Government is going to authorise religious same sex marriages as well as civil ones.

It would be an obvious compromise to allow civil weddings but not religious ones – that seems to be the route the UK Govt will go down.

It would be tempting for the SG to do the same. It’s a neat solution – that way they could say there is no question of religious denominations being forced to perform same sex marriages. It will only be civil ceremonies.

And, let’s face it, although there are some religious denominationa which support same sex marriage – Unitarians, Quakers, Liberal Jews, Pagan Federation etc – how many Unitarians, Quakers, Liberal Jews, Pagans etc are actually out there? They are very much outnumbered by the Catholics, Muslims and fundamentalist Protestants aren’t they?

But for some reason the SG has decided to go for the option which allows religious as well as civil same sex marriages. We can only assume that, for them, that is actually an issue of principle, of support for religious freedom.

But it makes it more complicated doesn’t it? Because they have to find a way to protect the rights of religious denominations which wish to conduct same sex marriages while also protecting the rights of religious denominations who do not want to conduct same sex marriages. And do that in the context of legislation which protects religious rights, freedom of speech and equality which is not within their control.

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Lazarus

18/07/2012

Putting aside any issues of substance here, I’m not sure you’re being quite accurate in your interpretation of John Haldane’s Newsnicht appearance. He was careful to distinguish between civil partnerships and same sex marriage, saying that the latter had to be discussed within an understanding of the ‘common good’ (a discussion which the programme didn’t have time to allow). I’d be amazed if he’s changed his opposition to same sex marriage (expressed quite regularly in the media eg in the Beyond Belief programme here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019rlng/Beyond_Belief_Same_Sex_Marriage/).

As to whether Haldane was criticizing the Cardinal -I suspect any interpretation along these lines would require quite a degree of cynicism (or wishful thinking!) given his previously highly supportive attitude (eg http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6707465.stm).

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Jaye Richards-Hill

20/07/2012

I met him when Ruth and I did the Big Questions earlier this year. Apparently, Haldane is an advisor to Pope Benedict….

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Erp

24/07/2012

There may not be many Unitarians, Quakers, Reform Jews in Scotland but there are a lot of Humanist weddings (I believe in Scotland in 2010 the number of weddings by Humanist celebrants exceeded the number of Catholic weddings) so they are the biggest group performing legally recognized opposite-sex marriages who would like to perform legally recognized same-sex marriages (as opposed to a ceremony after a same-sex marriage has been registered at the registry office).

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