The Australian Labor Party is set for a religious backlash over its decision to support same-sex marriage and accusations that it has breached another of its election promises, to protect the Marriage Act, reports the Australian. Focusing on the marginal seats of Corangamite, Deakin, Greenway, Reid and Moreton, on Sunday, religious leaders from across Australia warned Read more
British PM David Cameron’s plan to legalise gay marriage will weaken marriage as an institution at the heart of British society, Archbishop Vincent Nichols said. Nichols said at a news conference that Cameron wants to “annex the institution of marriage” for homosexuals. Nichols said he respects Cameron’s desire to encourage equality and committed gay relationships. Read more
The US Catholic bishops say religious freedom is being whittled away by same-sex marriage, abortion and healthcare legislation, and they are vowing to up their efforts to protect it. “For some time now we have viewed with growing alarm the ongoing erosion of religious liberty in our country,” Bishop William Lori, bishop of Connecticut told the Read more
Bishop Philip Tartaglia of Paisley explained in a pastoral letter that marriage is designed for the mutual good of the spouses and to provide both a father and a mother to children. But same-sex unions are “different in nature and purpose from marriage” and should not be called by the same name, he said. He Read more
Some commentators are suggesting that religious liberty is under threat in the United States in both the legislature and the courts. At least one Bishop thinks there is a possibility that the Church will no longer be free to preach the truth from the pulpit or to present Catholic teaching. Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, Read more
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has established a Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty in response a number of perceived attacks on religious freedom by Federal and State Departments. Bishop William Lori will chair the committee. Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the Bishops’ Conference, listed six particular areas of concern: • The Department of Health Read more
Perth Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey said that the Archdiocese would stop officiating at legal marriages if it was forced to celebrate same-sex unions. When addressing parishioners of the Traditional Anglican Church parish of St Ninian and St Chad in Maylands on Sunday, he also commented that he was uncertain if the Church could bury Catholics Read more
In America about 100 million people, nearly half of all adults, are unmarried, according to the Census Bureau — Tara Pope-Parker argues that singles struggle for attention – they tend to be overlooked by policies that favor married couples, from family-leave laws to lower insurance rates. There is this push for marriage in the straight community and Read more
The openly gay actor John Barrowman has criticised the Catholic Church in Scotland for its recent attacks on gay marriage.
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