More than 1,000 Catholic priests have
signed on to a letter criticizing the British government's plans to
legalize gay marriage.
The priest say marriage equality is a
greatest threat to religious freedoms since the Reformation and may
lead to Catholics being excluded from jobs.
The open letter was published in the
UK's The
Daily Telegraph.
“After centuries of persecution,
Catholics have, in recent times, been able to be members of the
professions and participate fully in the life of this country,” the
priests wrote.
“Legislation for same-sex marriage,
should it be enacted, will have many legal consequences, severely
restricting the ability of Catholics to teach the truth about
marriage in their schools, charitable institutions and places of
worship.”
“It is meaningless to argue that
Catholics and others may still teach their beliefs about marriage in
schools and other arenas if they are expected to uphold the opposite
view at the same time.”
“It is quite Orwellian to try to
redefine marriage,” said Rt. Rev. Philip Egan, the Bishop of
Portsmouth and one of the signatories. “This is strong language
but something like this totalitarian.”
“I am very anxious that when we are
preaching in church or teaching in our Catholic schools or witnessing
to the Christian faith of what marriage is that we are not going to
be able to do it – that we could be arrested for being bigots or
homophobes.”
Rev. Dr. Andrew Pinsent, a leading
Oxford University theologian who also signed the letter, defended the
comparison.
“Henry VIII could have been forgiven
for his adultery but he didn't want to do that, he wanted to control
marriage and redefine what was a marriage and wasn't.”
“Because the church would not concede
the point, that launched three centuries of great upheaval in English
society, and from the Catholic point of view life was very
difficult,” he said.