Same Sex Messing: Quiet A Moment

“Quite a moment”.

That is how it was described by campaigners. The Church of England’s first same sex couple to have been ‘blessed’ (whatever that means) has been widely reported. One of the two elderly lesbians (who are also priestesses in that Church) who received the 'blessing' said:

“I feel the weight of history on our shoulders, because it’s such a historic moment for the Church of England".

Quite how the state church can bless same sex relationships without having altered its definition of marriage (those two women are not actually married according to current Anglican church law) is beyond anyone’s comprehension. Liberal campaigners complain it does not go far enough, while conservatives recognise it as the stepping stone to a full re-definition. I can recognise close, same-sex friendships, but not marriages. Most will call me intolerant and prejudiced for this, but I believe marriage is, by definition, a formal conjugal bond between a man and woman. I can no more welcome same sex marriages as I can accept four-sided triangles or believe in three-sided squares. It is a logical impossibility. Whereas the Blair government’s civil partnerships provided equal benefits for same-sex partners as their heterosexual counterparts enjoyed in marriage, the campaigners did not think this was enough. They sought, and are seeking, to alter the meaning of marriage itself.

So yes, it was ‘quite a moment’. But moments pass, soon to be forgotten. The CofE will surely alter its position on marriage before long, completely surrendering to the forces of secular ideology. At that moment, this moment will be forgotten. The denomination itself will not survive the century, for it too will quietly fade away, blending into the world's philosophies it so wished to appease and absorb. And then it, too, will be forgotten. That will be quite a moment.