Thursday, November 3, 2011

British Govt. OKs Civil Partnerships in Churches; Church of England States It Will Not Permit Them

The Ethics Daily website reports today (November 3, 2011) that the British government said yesterday (November 2) that same-sex couples will be allowed -- for the first time -- to use churches to seal their civil partnership vows, starting in December.

But the directive added that no religious group will be forced to conduct or host such a ceremony -- and the Church of England quickly announced it would permit no such rites on its premises.

In a statement, the church said, "it has no intention of allowing civil partnerships to be registered" in its churches.

Lynne Featherstone -- the government's equalities minister -- used a written statement to Parliament to announce that same-sex couples will be allowed to seal their vows in churches and other places of worship in England and Wales, starting December 5.

No comments:

Post a Comment