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Church does not OWN marriage
BBC News ^ | 02/25/12 | BBC News

Posted on 02/24/2012 11:18:47 PM PST by EnglishCon

The Church does not "own" marriage nor have the exclusive right to say who can marry, a government minister has said.

Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone said the government was entitled to introduce same-sex marriages, which she says would be a "change for the better".

Her comments come as ministers prepare to launch a public consultation on legalising gay marriage next month.

Traditionalists want the law on marriage to remain unchanged.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: homosexualagenda; ungland
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To: EnglishCon
Ummm. Yes, actually, the Church (as the body of Christ) does own marriage.

The state was a late in picking up that bit of booty. I think Henry VIII had something to do with that.

/johnny

21 posted on 02/25/2012 12:57:04 AM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: DNA.2012
No. You are wrong.

Any criminal can issue a licence for anything, but that doesn't really mean they control it, or that it actually matters to them.

Marriage is a sacrament. And governments, around here, don't offer those.

They give you pieces of paper, and bills, instead. But no sacrements.

/johnny

22 posted on 02/25/2012 1:00:04 AM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: DNA.2012
just private marriage contracts binding only upon the man and the woman who sign that contract.

Who decides, or enforces, that it is a man and a woman?

23 posted on 02/25/2012 1:01:07 AM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Marriage predates Christianity.


24 posted on 02/25/2012 1:02:06 AM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: kingu

It took the federal government to stop polygamy in America, how do we stop it, and homosexual “marriage” now?


25 posted on 02/25/2012 1:05:30 AM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Aye, odd to think that if one man could have simply kept it in his pants and not been obsessed with a male heir that things would be hugely different today.


26 posted on 02/25/2012 1:13:29 AM PST by EnglishCon (Gingrich/Santorum 2012.)
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To: EnglishCon

Using govt to solve social issues is to fiddle with a double-edged sword. I prefer we persuade one another outside the fencing of statist rule.

The sanctity of marriage is a critical component of a healthy society. It cannot be used as a device to rationalize the illusion that “homosexual marriage” is something that can be realized. The terms “gay marriage” and “homosexual marriage” are completely degenerate having no real meaning.

This issue is less about homosexuality and more about destroying the fabric of a healthy, independent, Christian society.

I don’t fault anyone for wanting to “fit in”, but it’s obvious the commie secularists have identified a group that’s ripe for exploitation, and is using it to marginalize the traditionalism that’s required for a strong, independent society. It’s doing so through the force of law; rulings and law based on the fallacy of “homosexual marriage”.


27 posted on 02/25/2012 1:16:22 AM PST by Gene Eric (Newt/Sarah 2012)
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To: ansel12

Purely for the mental exercise and discussion, and not something I condone at all, but:

By what right did the federal government have to stop polygamy?


28 posted on 02/25/2012 1:17:53 AM PST by EnglishCon (Gingrich/Santorum 2012.)
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To: EnglishCon

What does that have to do with Islamic and Mormon Americans, and any homosexuals starting a church defining marriage anyway that they want, other religions may have even more bizarre “definitions”


29 posted on 02/25/2012 1:18:20 AM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: EnglishCon

It sounds like you prefer polygamy not being stopped. That is pretty much the point of this thread isn’t it, that anything called a church “defines” marriage to it’s own desires and purposes?


30 posted on 02/25/2012 1:22:31 AM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: ansel12

So what do you propose, govt regulations?


31 posted on 02/25/2012 1:24:43 AM PST by Gene Eric (Newt/Sarah 2012)
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To: Gene Eric

You are fighting for polygamy and homosexual marriage, and whatever else churches like the Children of God come up with?


32 posted on 02/25/2012 1:27:27 AM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

The govt. licenses marriage and thus the govt. controls marriage.

Look at divorce: who gets what isn’t decided by a church, or the couple, or any concept of sacramental bonds, but rather by govt. courts.


33 posted on 02/25/2012 1:41:09 AM PST by DNA.2012
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To: ansel12; Gene Eric
homosexual marriage

That is what is happening BECAUSE OF government control / licensing of marriage.

34 posted on 02/25/2012 1:42:31 AM PST by DNA.2012
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To: DNA.2012

What is your excuse for what gave us polygamy?


35 posted on 02/25/2012 1:44:24 AM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: ansel12

>> You are fighting for polygamy and homosexual marriage

No, I am not fighting for that. But you are indeed advancing govt regulations.

You need to entrust a free society instead of embracing the kind of statism that makes you feel secure.


36 posted on 02/25/2012 1:47:29 AM PST by Gene Eric (Newt/Sarah 2012)
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To: ansel12

What is your excuse for government controllers / licensers of marriage imposing “gay marriage”?


37 posted on 02/25/2012 1:49:12 AM PST by DNA.2012
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To: Gene Eric; DNA.2012

So you are actually promoting marriage as having no definition at all, any church, any religion, any cult, issues their own definition, of course what power would insist and enforce that only religious entities can define marriage anyway, why not anybody, any group, and household?

Islamic and Mormon, and FLDS child marriage and Polygamy, homosexual marriage, and stuff that we cannot even name or imagine.


38 posted on 02/25/2012 1:56:19 AM PST by ansel12 (Romney is unquestionably the weakest party front-runner in contemporary political history.)
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To: Gene Eric

I agree totally. The state has zero rights to define something which is basically faith based and fundamental to being human.

Look, as I said, I have very good friends who are homosexual. One of them, the guy who sent me this story, in a long term relationship that outlasted the marriages of most of my heterosexual friends, literally saved my a$$ and my marriage. No jokes please!

Not a single one of them wants gay marriage. Civil unions, fair enough. I am not hugely happy with it, but it is what it is. I disagree from a moral and religious standpoint. As a friend I am happy for them, though most of them have not bothered.

To me, as a Christian and Catholic (yes, I seperate them sometimes - there are slightly different tacks depending on what hat you wear), their lives are simply and totally wrong. Against all teaching.

Yet it is their life. Not mine. I can talk to them, witness to them, but I can’t prevent them living as they wish. Watching a good friend following a path that is going to lead them to eternal damnation hurts. I pray hard for them every single day.

I don’t want my duly elected representatives - most of whom have problems in their personal lives too - sticking their nose in.
Because, in the interests of fairness and equality, those same politicians are going to degrade the sanctity of marriage as sure as eggs is eggs.

Two people - one man, one woman - joined before God in Holy Matrimony. That is marriage. Full stop, end of story.

We get it. My friend gets it. Why the H3ll doesn’t the government get it!


39 posted on 02/25/2012 1:58:04 AM PST by EnglishCon (Gingrich/Santorum 2012.)
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To: ansel12

You a big fan of

A) not addressing questions while expecting others to

and

B) making up big long lists and pretending that someone else said them


40 posted on 02/25/2012 2:03:56 AM PST by DNA.2012
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