Presentation Transcript

1. Staying Faithful in Marriage?Religious belief and the UK same-sex marriage debates

   Neil Cobb, Durham University Sexuality, Gender Identity and Faith 11 June 2012
2. Presentation summary Marvel's Northstar – aka Jean-Paul Beaubier – proposing to his long time partner Kyle Jinadu Outlines UK same-sex marriage proposals Considers some of the faith-based criticisms levelled at the proposals Explores the restrictions imposed on faith groups by the E&W proposals Re-thinks the appropriate relationship between faith and legal marriage “Obama's support for gay marriage splits US”, BBC News Online, 11 May 2012
3. UK same-sex marriage debates CPA 2004 (“marriage in all but name?”) Wilkinson v Kitzinger[2006] (High Court) Consultation proposals on same-sex marriage Scottish Government (September 2011) UK Coalition Government (E&W) (March 2012) YouGov Poll for Sunday Times (March 2012): 43% support same-sex marriage; 32% support civil partnerships only; 16% oppose everything
4. The changing politics in E&W Oct 2011: “I don’t support same-sex marriage despite being a Conservative; I support it because I am a Conservative” (Cameron) March 2012: proposals described as “completely nuts” by Peter Bone MP (Cons.) May 2012: disastrous performance by coalition in local elections; gay marriage proposals dropped from Queen’s Speech.
5. Challenges from Catholicism Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of Scotland “madness” / “grotesque subversion” “As an institution, marriage long predates the existence of any state or government. It was not created by governments and should not be changed by them.” Pastoral Letter on Marriage (March 2012) Catholic Education Service letter to all state-funded Catholic schools in E&W (April 2012)
6. Anglican ambivalence Dr. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York “I firmly believe that redefining marriage to embrace same-sex relationships would mean diminishing the meaning of marriage for most people, with very little if anything gained for homosexual people. If I am right, in the long term we would all be losers.” David Cameron acting like a “dictator” Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales “If the legislation to allow civil marriage is passed, I cannot see how we as a church will be able to ignore the legality of the status of such partnerships and we ought not to want to do so.”
7. Summary and questions Faith-based objections focus on marriage as a pre-political, pre-legal institution created and defined by values inspired by (Christian) faith Is legal marriage in E&W really defined by faith? How have faith-based objections to same-sex marriage shaped the government’s proposals? Should faith have any role to play in marriage law?
8. Faith and legal marriage in E&W Pre-1800s: marriage defined by canon law and enforced by ecclesiastical courts (only CoE, Quaker and Jewish marriages recognised in law) Marriage Act 1836 and onwards Shift from canon law to common law (and to Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes) Creation of civil marriage in law (through secular ceremony in a registry office or other registered place) BUT religious marriage in law still recognised when solemnized by authorized religious celebrants
9. Modern marriage law in E&W The scope of legal marriage is no longer solely defined by faith groups (as it was pre-1836) It has been altered since 1836 to reflect secular values (e.g. divorce/‘no fault’ divorce) However, it remains part civil, part religious Religious marriages can still have effect in law The term “marriage” retains religious resonance
10. Continuing Christian influence Lord Penzance in Hyde v Hyde (1866): “Marriage as understood in Christendom, may ... be defined as the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.” Cited by Sir Mark Potter in Wilkinson v Kitzinger (2006) to reject same-sex marriage
11. How has faith influenced the E&W same-sex marriage proposals? Same-sex marriage will be civil marriage only (but civil partnerships will still be available) Ban on same-sex marriage in religious settings Step backwards? From 2011 it has been possible to form CPs in religious premises (albeit without religious ceremony involved) [Scottish Government has not reached a view, but has at least proposed formation of legal marriages in religious settings as an option]
12. Should legal same-sex marriages be permitted in religious settings? Does the E&W ban on same-sex marriage in religious settings unjustifiably infringe religious freedom of pro-gay faith groups? At present, Quakers, Unitarians and Liberal Judaism want to perform same-sex marriages Would religious groups and celebrants be forced to solemnise same-sex marriages? Scottish Gov: religious bodies will need to “opt in”
13. Limits of this argument Do the interventions of anti-gay faith groups in the debates over legal same-sex marriage raise wider questions about the appropriate relationship between faith and the state? Demand for same-sex marriage in religious settings shores up the historic assumption that legal marriage should remain “part religious” But should faith have any role in legal marriage?
14. Breaking the link between religious marriage and legal marriage? Is it right that legal entitlements can flow from religious ceremonies, gay or straight? Or should only civil marriage berecognised? i.e. religious marriage ceremonies purely cultural (without having any legal effect)? In other words: legal marriage secularized? C.f. The approach in France and much of continental Europe (since Napoleonic Code)
15. Abolishing legal marriage? But can civil marriage be delinked from religious influence while still called marriage? Term “marriage” retains religious resonance Solution: start again; completely new system? Perhaps replacing legal marriage with the (already available) system of civil partnership? Once again: only legal marriage would go; religious marriage would continue in culture
16. Beyond marriage? Re-thinking state recognition of all relationships Might abolishing legal marriage also enable us to begin rethinking the state’s recognition of relationships from a more inclusive position? Marriage tied to notions of conjugality; nuclear family; traditional family formations c.f. feminist thinking around non-conjugal care-giving and dependence; Spinster sisters?
17. Some final thoughts Is fully secular state relationship recognition achievable in reality? Maybe not yet. Continuing cultural investment in legal “marriage” and its historic link with faith e.g. the archetypal “White Church Wedding” But worth fighting for?