Church of England's opposition to gay marriage highlights need for disestablishment

28 February 2011

If the Church of England wishes to be free from interference by government, it should work for disestablishment, the British Humanist Association (BHA) has commented today.

The BHA has responded in light of remarks made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, stating that the Church of England would not support permit civil partnership ceremonies to be held in its churches, nor would it support any attempts to have equal gay marriage.

The change in law to allow civil partnership ceremonies to take place in places of worship was made in the Equality Act 2010 and is coming into force this year. The change is merely permissive: no church or religious group is required to hold such ceremonies if they do not wish to.

BHA Head of Public Affairs Naomi Phillips commented:'It is no surprise that the Archbishop of Canterbury is opposing the Church of England hosting civil partnership ceremonies, and the permissive status of the law means he is within his right to refuse to do so. Church of England leaders may also wish to oppose any future change in the law to formalise gay marriage in place of civil partnerships, and such opposition would fit with the Church's consistent opposition to gay equality, whether that is in the workplace or as service users.

'The Church is established in England and so it is constitutionally part of the state. While it retains that status, and while it runs a third of our state-funded schools, and for as long as it has seats as of right for its Bishops in our parliament, its own internal policies are significant to the rest of society. If Dr Williams wishes to protect freedom for his Church, including freedom from any future possible interference from the state in the Church's policies which oppose democratically made equality laws, he should be working with others, including humanists, for disestablishment.'

Notes:

Read the BHA's briefing on humanist marriage, gay marriage and 'religious' civil partnerships. http://www.humanism.org.uk/_uploads/documents/bha-briefing-2011-marriage-civil-partnerships.pdf

Just under 2 per cent of the UK population attend a CofE Church every week and according to the British Social Attitudes Survey, those self-described as members of the Church of England consist of 20% of the population in 2009. Read more surveys and statistics. http://www.humanism.org.uk/campaigns/religion-and-belief-surveys-statistics

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