Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Church and State
The Daily Mail reports here on The Sexual Orientation Regulations which should become law in April.
Anyway a great row is brewing between the government and the Catholic Church over the issue; the problem being that so called discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation will be illegal and of course the Catholic Church has always maintained a robust moral stance on this matter.
My personal view is that homosexuality is immoral, but morality is a private matter for the individual concerned. When it comes to business matters, I generally suspend moral judgements, (obviously not fully - I wouldn't trade with an enemy). Likewise in social matters, I don't expect people to pass some sort of morality test before socialising with them, I don't force my morality on others, and equally I expect to be free from the morality of others.
Where the Church is concerned the situation is totally different, they have to follow the theological doctrines. The Church cannot, with authority, approve of homosexuality, but unlike the individual, the Church isn't free to ignore morality, people can be forgiven their sins, but they have to repent. Sin has nothing to do with the law of the land (although there is often overlap), but it has everything to do with morality. This sort of discrimination though is only permissible in areas concerning morality; so say in selling ordinary candles, it would be wrong for the Church to refuse to sell such candles to persons because of their morality.
Looking at adoption, which is where this row is centred, the Church has a duty to ensure the best for those children in their care, and that has to include moral well-being. The Church must always judge it's own morality as superior to that of any state and accordingly cannot and should not allow the state to interfere in these matters. They cannot in all conscience give those children into the care of those whose morality they disapprove of, no matter how many laws are passed.
I find the whole thing rather ironic, especially given this from the report: "The attack is particularly sharp because Catholic bishops in England have traditionally leaned, like many of their flock, towards support for the Labour Party.
They have published guidance on Catholic teaching in advance of elections that has broadly supported Labour. "
I would agree with that statement from my experience, and I've always thought that support to be incompatible with true Catholic values. I hope that some in the Church are starting to wake up what socialism and Labour are really all about.
Anyway a great row is brewing between the government and the Catholic Church over the issue; the problem being that so called discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation will be illegal and of course the Catholic Church has always maintained a robust moral stance on this matter.
My personal view is that homosexuality is immoral, but morality is a private matter for the individual concerned. When it comes to business matters, I generally suspend moral judgements, (obviously not fully - I wouldn't trade with an enemy). Likewise in social matters, I don't expect people to pass some sort of morality test before socialising with them, I don't force my morality on others, and equally I expect to be free from the morality of others.
Where the Church is concerned the situation is totally different, they have to follow the theological doctrines. The Church cannot, with authority, approve of homosexuality, but unlike the individual, the Church isn't free to ignore morality, people can be forgiven their sins, but they have to repent. Sin has nothing to do with the law of the land (although there is often overlap), but it has everything to do with morality. This sort of discrimination though is only permissible in areas concerning morality; so say in selling ordinary candles, it would be wrong for the Church to refuse to sell such candles to persons because of their morality.
Looking at adoption, which is where this row is centred, the Church has a duty to ensure the best for those children in their care, and that has to include moral well-being. The Church must always judge it's own morality as superior to that of any state and accordingly cannot and should not allow the state to interfere in these matters. They cannot in all conscience give those children into the care of those whose morality they disapprove of, no matter how many laws are passed.
I find the whole thing rather ironic, especially given this from the report: "The attack is particularly sharp because Catholic bishops in England have traditionally leaned, like many of their flock, towards support for the Labour Party.
They have published guidance on Catholic teaching in advance of elections that has broadly supported Labour. "
I would agree with that statement from my experience, and I've always thought that support to be incompatible with true Catholic values. I hope that some in the Church are starting to wake up what socialism and Labour are really all about.
Tags: religion, liberty, rights, freedom
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
Labels: Church and State
