Letters To The Telegraph: PS I Am Mad

SIR – Some Conservative politicians argue that marriage should be legal for people who love each other and are willing to commit publicly to a lifelong relationship (Letters, December 9).

Marriage is not about love. This fairly recent idea is not only misguided, but also dangerous.

Couples who feel that they are no longer “in love” doubt whether their marriage is viable, with horrible consequences for the couple themselves, and for any children they may have.

Marriage is a contract entered into by a man and a woman for their long-term mutual support and companionship, and for the nurturing of children, if they have any. A male and female parent are necessary for the propagation of offspring.

I am not a person of deep religious conviction, but I strongly disagree with those making the case for same-sex marriage, because I think their arguments fail to recognise these fundamental realities.

Hugh Trappes-Lomax

Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire

SIR – There seems to be an accelerating rush by some members of the Government in wanting same-sex marriage legislation passed through Parliament, even though there was no mention of such an intention in the Queen’s Speech.
Is this urgency because the Government would like as much time as possible to pass before the next election so that the change has escaped people’s attention by then?
Raymond Cox
Halesowen, Worcestershire

SIR – Lesbian and gay members of the Church of England and others who support the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are dismayed by the fourth element of the quadruple lock proposed by the Government, stating that it would be illegal for the Church to marry same-sex couples.
If the Bill is enacted in its present form, in 2014 married lesbian and gay Anglicans, lay and ordained, will be worshipping and ministering in parishes of the Church of England.
This will raise pastoral and legal questions for the Church. Will married lesbian and gay couples receive the same pastoral care the Church offers heterosexual married couples? Will the Church continue to discriminate against lesbian and gay clergy whether married or in civil partnerships? Will the Church continue to undermine the family relationships of its lesbian and gay members? Parents of gay children long to attend their children’s wedding service in church. Couples starting a family will look forward to the baptism of their children.
The Church of England has to consider how it will offer pastoral care and a generous welcome to married gay couples and their children. It is in crisis because of its failure to approve women bishops and the insistence that it maintain the right to discriminate against LGBT people by exemptions from equality legislation.
The Church needs to relinquish its exemption from the equal marriage Bill and address the expectation of the majority in every parish that it will continue to offer pastoral care to every citizen, including gay married couples and their children.
Until the Church of England allows clergy to solemnise same-sex marriages in our churches, as a matter of pastoral response those of us who are priests will counsel lesbian and gay members of our congregations to marry in those churches willing to celebrate faithful same-sex relationships.
Revd Colin Coward, Devizes, Director of Changing Attitude England, Anne Aitken, Southport, Tristan Alexander-Watts, Chelmsford, Dean Ayres, London, Erika Baker, Somerset Sally Barnes, London, Revd Al Barrett, Birmingham Joe Bayly, Liverpool, Revd Christina Beardsley, London, CA Trustee, Che Bee, Oxted, Surrey, Liz Bellinger, Lincoln, Rev Anne Bennett, Rochester, Dr Tony Bentley MRCGP, Houghton on the Hill, Leicestershire, Revd Dr Mike Benwell, Seacroft, Leeds, Judith Blackburn, Hackney, London Mrs Allannah Brennan, Birmingham Anne Brooke, Elstead, Surrey, Katie Brown, Frome, Somerset Revd Graham Buckle, London Abbot Stuart Burns OSB, Worcester Paul Burrows-Gibson, Southampton Rachma Bush, Radstock Revd Bob Callaghan, Canterbury Revd Tom Cameron, Hassocks Martin Carr, London Revd Richard Cattley, Maidenhead Revd Mark Chilcott, Manchester Dr Rob Clucas, Hull, CA Trustee Michael Craske, Southwark, London Marion Clutterbuck, West Dean, Salisbury Revd Prof James Meredith Day, Brussels, Belgium Fr Andy Delmege, Weoley Castle, Birmingham John Dinnen, London Revd Trevor Donnelly, Blackheath, London Revd Andrew Dotchin, Ipswich, Member of General Synod Stuart Dronsfield, Oldham Charlotte Elizabeth, Oxford Guy Elsmore, Liverpool Deborah Elston, Leicester Revd David Emmott, Liverpool Rob Evans, London Revd Stephen Flatt, London, Fr Steve Hardwicke, Cowley, Revd David Ford, Hucknall, Notts, Member of Religious Society of Friends, Phil Gardner, Leeds, Revd Ray Gaston, Tutor Queens Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education Birmingham, Dr Claire George, Cowley, Middlesex, Canon Giles Goddard, Waterloo, London, Pam Gold, Warrington , Revd Alice Goodman, Lady Hill, Laurence William Philip Gough, London, Prof. Russell Goulbourne, Hebden Bridge , Kes Grant, London, Brutus Green, London, Jay Greene, West Dean, Salisbury, Jonathan Gregson, Camberwell, London, Phil Groom, Langford, Beds, Matthew Hall, Rotherhithe, London, Revd Sue Hammersley, Sheffield, David Hammonds, Sedgley, Worcester, Chris Hansen, London, Revd Canon Rosie Harper, Amersham, Rt Revd Professor Lord Harries of Pentregarth - House of Lords, Revd Helen Hayes, Bradgate, Leicester, Revd Dr Keith Hebden, Pioneer Minister, Southwell and Notts., Bernadette Hegarty, Harrogate, Jeanette Holder, Winchester, Steve Howes, Belenden, Revd Chris Howson, Chaplain to Sunderland University, Revd Robert Hughes, Colchester, Roy Humphrey, London
 , Al Johns, Antwerp, Belgium, Hilary Johnson, Birmingham, CA Trustee, Mark Johnson, Wormelow Hundred, Herefordhsire, Revd Patrick Jordan, Downham, London, Revd John Joyce, Brighton, Katherine J Kaye, Oxford, Karen Kennedy, Revd Rosemary Lain-Priestly, London, Revd Clive Larsen, Manchester, CA Trustee, Kate Lee, Weston-super-Mare, Vicky Leggat-Green, Bristol, Dr Fiona Little, Durham, Gerry Lynch, churchwarden, Belfast, Davis Mac-Iyalla, Camden, London, Rev Clare MacLaren, Heaton, Bradford, Marcello Manca, Purley, Surrey, Anderson Marsh, Petersfield, Jo Marshall, Whitechapel, London, Richard Marshall, Alfreton, Derbyshire, Robert Marshall, Macclesfield , Darwin Marty Martin, Banbridge, Revd Hayley Matthews, Salford, Mediacity Chaplain, Revd Jean Mayland, Hexham, Ann Memmott, Reading, Sarah Moon, Newcastle upon Tyne, Revd Dr Georgina Morley, Durham, Fr Andrew Moughtin-Mumby, Walworth, London, Revd Bryony Morrison, Epping, Fr Andrew Moughtin-Mumby, London, Janet Murch, Barrow upon Humber, Canon Barry Naylor, Leicester, Revd Dr Mark Newitt, Sheffield, Leon Nicholls, London, Lynn McAdam O’Connell, Cork, Ireland, Revd Bertrand Olivier, London , Peter Owen, Liverpool, Michael Parish, Wrexham, Revd Kate Pearson, Birmingham, Canon Jeremy Pemberton, Southwell, Anthony Phelan, Oxford, Brenda Ramsden, Oxted, Ruairidh Reynolds, London, Revd Ben Rhodes, London, Fr Laurence J Roberts, London , Claire Robson, Bath, Tony Robson, Seaham, Christopher Rogers, London, Revd Sister Rosemary CHN, Member of General Synod, Revd David Rushton, London, Richard Sewell, Barnes, London, Dennis Shattell-Parkes, Canon Tony Shepherd, Harrogate, Marcus Small, Eardisley, Herefordshire, Carole Smith, Camberley, Surrey, Geoff Smith, Salisbury, Graham Smith, Sleaford, Lincolnshire (ordinand) , Kate Smith, West Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, CA Trustee, Revd Steve Smith, Leeds, Andrew Smyth, Glasgow, Elaine Sommers, Bristol, CA Trustee, Erica Jane Soulsby, Lay Minister All Hallows by the Tower, London, Revd Graham Southgate, Wiltshire, Sue Suddaby, Sussex, Revd Dr Andrew Teal, Chaplain, Fellow, Dean of Degrees, Pembroke College, University of Oxford, Fr Geoffrey Thompson, Southwark, Revd Trevor Thurston-Smith, Leicester, Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, Durham, Paul Tilson, Belfast, Jeremy Timm, Howden, Yorkshire, Chair of CA Trustees, Angela Townshend, Bath, Clarissa Turner, Swallow, Lincs, Captain Katie Watson, Newcastle upon Tyne, Ann Wheeler, Geoff White, Reading, Sue Whitlock, Hurworth, Mandy Will-share, Revd Rowan Williams, York, Paula Wilson, Liverpool, Stella Wiseman, Bristol, Joyce Yendole
Devizes, Wiltshire

SIR – Before the shipyards were closed on the lower reaches of the Clyde, many consultations were held between the owners and the local community. Coming out of one meeting, a lady said to me, “There will be all this talk, and then they will shut us down.” She was right.
The same goes for the consultations over same-sex marriage: David Cameron and his pals will insist on it no matter what people want.
Rev Bill Shackleton
Glasgow

SIR – What trust can religious people place in the state not imposing its moral code on their beliefs when, in response to the Church of England voting against the ordination of women bishops, the Prime Minister lamented the fact and stated that it was important to have a modern-looking church?
Similarly, what trust can religious people place in politicians who, several years ago, introduced civil partnerships saying that they were not a means of introducing same-sex marriage by stealth, but now propose to introduce same-sex marriage anyway?
M P Onoszko
Chineham, Hampshire

SIR – The “Freedom to Marry” group, supporting the arguments in favour of same-sex marriage, claims that “a substantial majority of the public, including people of faith, support equal marriage”.
Where is their evidence of such a majority?
Paddy Germain
Marden, Kent

SIR – The basic and essential point of marriage is to enable a man and a woman to enter a lifetime contract with the prospect of the procreation of children. Such an outcome is physically impossible in a single-sex coupling. Marriage is not a fashion statement.
Edward Lambe
Bishops Lydeard, Somerset

SIR – Amid all the calls for gay people to be allowed to marry in church, has anyone given any thought to heterosexual couples who are not allowed to?
My husband and I, regular churchgoers before we decided to get married, were denied a church wedding as we were both divorced, although neither of us was the “guilty party” in our divorces. Our local rector was happy to bless our union in church, but would not marry us.
Why should we have been denied this, when homosexual couples may be allowed to flout the teaching of the church to marry in one?
Gillian Smith
Stalbridge, Dorset

SIR – I am sure that there can never be a consensus on gay marriage. Therefore, may I suggest that marriage be made a private contractual matter, ignored by the civil administration and optional to register.
Religious organisations may recognise them or not as they wish. Enforcement will continue to be through the civil courts and children will continue to be protected as at present.
The only remaining matter is tax. What simpler than for HM Revenue & Customs to register the marriage or civil partnership to provide the inheritance tax and capital gains tax status of the relationships?
Dr Michael Ford
Villeneuve-sur-Lot, France

Daily Telegraph - 35 Tory MPs on that letter, so it's no biggy.

Worth reprinting in full, I thought.
Your little baby Jesus was born out of wedlock, and after his mother was impregnated by your rapey god.
He's a godless bastard.
And then he performed some magic tricks, like walking on water, and turning water into wine, these actually happened - and then he was raised from the dead.
Or he would have been if he existed.
This lunatic medieval nonsense infects ya brains.
It's 2012, not 30 CE.
Let's move on.