Once again it seems that the Church is getting its collective knickers in a twist over ‘gay marriage’ or equal marriage as I prefer to think of it.

The Coalition for Marriage has a consultation out at the moment, which is heavily biased towards unequal marriage, but which does provide a way of feeding back to government a more equal view. Here’s what I said

Marriage is a contract between two people, providing legal acknowledgement of their partnership. It is also a social declaration of partnership and a celebration of love. This contract, declaration and celebration should be available to any couple, regardless of their sexuality.

Marriage is a legally secular activity and it is inappropriate for religious groups with a homophobic agenda to interfere with updates in the law that would bring equality to marriage legislation.

To be honest I hope that this legislation is ‘one of the most serious threats to Church in 500 years’, since any institution that is unwilling to support equality doesn’t deserve to be supported itself. The CofE needs to grow up and realise that we no longer live in a world governed by superstition and indoctrination. If they want to be a useful part of the modern world they need to realise that change is inevitable and when the change leads to greater equality it is change for the better.

Normally they’re a bit more progressive than their Catholic congeners, so let’s see if they have a change of heart on the issue.