The Equality Bill

The clergymen getting all hot under the collar over the fantastic events in the House of Lords yesterday should loosen up.

The amendment to the Equality Bill, which would enable gay couples to celebrate their partnership in a consenting religious place of worship, is a permissive piece of legislation. It will allow Churches and other religious groups the liberty to choose. The progress will be welcomed by the Quakers, the Liberal Jews and the Unitarians whose organisations already bless civil partnerships and want the freedom to be able to bless them in their places of worship. It’s a question of religious freedom, not enforcement, and there are still many legal issues to be addressed if the amendment forms part of the final Bill.

So, reading the front page of the Telegraph today that “clergymen could be sued if they refuse to carry out homosexual marriages in church” one wonders how the common good in this world might be furthered if traditionalists stopped knee jerking and started thinking.

New Delhi Court Decriminalizes Gay Sex

A New Delhi court has ruled that consensual gay sex is not a crime, The Times reports today. The Delhi High Court ruled that applying the 1860 colonial law, which ranked homosexual intercourse alongside bestiality and paedophilia as “sex against nature” and punishable by 10 years in prison, violated the constitution and international human rights conventions.

One small step for the 21st century and a giant leap for humanity: http://tinyurl.com/mkbshc

There was a stirring article by Johan Hari in The Independent yesterday on the history of gay rights in this country ahead of London’s Gay Pride tomorrow: http://tinyurl.com/mtzuzp

If only the Church would wake up to the 21st century and sanctify civil partnerships. There is a lot of progressive talk at grass roots levels (in the more sophisticated circles of the Christian world, ie: http://tinyurl.com/mhk8o3), but at the decision-making levels there is still much coughing and buck passing. I am not up to speed with what is happening among other faith groups, but I imagine it is very similar. Meanwhile, humanism continues to live up to its name. Long may humanists continue to spread enlightenment.