Cardinal Keith O'Brien criticises gay marriage plans

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, has once again voiced his opposition to gay marriage.

The Cardinal had already been outspoken about the public consultation in Scotland, launched by the SNP administration, on gay marriage. O’Brien called gay marriage a ‘grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right’ words which drew considerable criticism. O’Brien has once again voiced his opposition to gay marriage only this time directing his criticisms at the Coalition Government, in Westminster, which is planning to hold a consultation on the issue later this month.

The Cardinal was writing Sunday Telegraph and wrote that the introduction of gay marriage would ‘shame the United Kingdom in the eyes of the world’ despite the rising number of countries legalising same-sex marriages. The Cardinal also said it was “wrong” to ‘deprive’ a child of a mother and a father.

Since all the legal rights of marriage are already available to homosexual couples, it is clear that this proposal is not about rights, but rather is an attempt to redefine marriage for the whole of society at the behest of a small minority of activists. Same-sex marriage would eliminate entirely in law the basic idea of a mother and a father for every child. It would create a society which deliberately chooses to deprive a child of either a mother or a father.” – Cardinal Keith O’Brien in the Sunday Telegraph

The Cardinal went on to compare the possible legalising of gay marriage to legalising slavery writing ‘Imagine for a moment that the government had decided to legalise slavery but assured us that ‘no one will be forced to keep a slave. Would such worthless assurances calm our fury? Would they justify dismantling a fundamental human right’ Such comments are sure to draw even more criticism towards the Cardinal and his views.

The Catholic Cardinal is the latest high ranking religious figure to speak out against gay marriage. However, public opinion on the issue remains largely in favour of introducing same-sex marriages. As the debate continues splits within different religious organisations are becoming more apparent. It should also be pointed out that not all religious organisations are opposed to gay marriage with some openly supportive such as the Quakers and Pagans.

Gay marriage has already been legalised in several countries – though mostly European – around the world such as Spain, Canada, Iceland, Belgium, Norway, Holland, Portugal, Brazil. Several states in America such as New York, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, have legalised gay marriage while Maryland, New Jersey and Washington recently voted in favour of gay marriage. Countries planning to debate/legalise gay marriage include Australia, Denmark, Germany and Luxemburg.{jcomments off}