Bishop of York indulges in prejudice?

[Alan Fry]

As I put it as a Sikh, my religion considers marriage to be a union of souls, so it does not matter if a man marries a woman or a man marries a man etc

In our holy book, it makes clear that all people are equal, no matter what they belive in or what they do!

[danielf]

Originally Posted by Chris

I don't doubt that there are ways round it from an administrative point of view. But only allowing married couples to have double rooms has got at least a couple of Christian guest houses on the wrong side of equality legislation. My point is to raise the question of who, legally, has precedence if the legal definition of marriage changes?

The point seems a bit moot. If you can't discriminate against couples who are not married, then widening the civil definition of marriage is unlikely to make any difference. Churches however, will still be free to stick to their narrower definition of marriage.

Edit: Incidentally, as I'm sure you are aware, the poll now indicates that roughly two-thirds of the CF members that voted are in favour of same-sex marriage, while nearly a quarter oppose. I put it to you that those in favour of same-sex marriage are more than a 'small but highly vocal minority'

[Chris]

In return I'd put it to you that the CF membership is a little self-selecting and not a good basis for a poll if you want to extrapolate the results to the UK as a whole.

[danielf]

Originally Posted by Chris

In return I'd put it to you that the CF membership is a little self-selecting and not a good basis for a poll if you want to extrapolate the results to the UK as a whole.

Yes, I'm well aware of that. So I had a look at Wikipedia, which shows support varying across polls, and ranging from 43% to 61%, numbers which I'm sure you'll agree are not a 'small minority'

Public opinion
Opinion polls have shown varying, but increasing, levels of support for same-sex marriage among Britons.
A 2004 poll by Gallup reported that 52% agreed that 'marriages between homosexuals' should be recognised while 45% said they should not. Support for same-sex marriage among British respondents was 1% higher than Canadians who were asked and 17% higher than Americans. The poll found that 65% supported allowing gay couples to form civil unions.[40] A 2006 Eurobarometer survey reported that 46% of Britons agreed the same-sex marriages should be allowed throughout Europe, support being slightly higher than the EU average of 44%.[41] A poll conducted in September 2008 by ICM Research for The Observer found that 55% of Britons believed that same-sex couples should be allowed to get married while 45% disagreed.[42][43]
An opinion poll conducted in June 2009 by Populus for The Times reported 61% of the British public agreed with the statement 'Gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships', while 33% disagreed. Support was highest among those aged between 25 and 34 where 78% agreed and 19% disagreed. It was lowest amongst those over 65 where 37% agreed and 52% disagreed. A majority of both men and women agreed but support was higher among women (67%) than men (55%). On voting intention, 73% Liberal Democrats, 64% Labour voters and 53% Conservatives agreed that gay couples should have the right to marry.[44][45]
A poll conducted by Angus Reid in July 2010 showed that 78% of people supported either same-sex marriage or civil union for gay couples, with 41% opting for same-sex marriage and 37% opting for civil union. The amount of people who supported no legal unions for gay couples decreased by 3% since August 2009.[46]
According to the 2010 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, 61 per cent of Scotland's population supports same-sex marriage. Just 19 per cent said they disagreed, while 18 per cent said they neither agreed nor disagreed. In a similar poll in 2002, 42% of Scotland's population supported same-sex marriage. In 2006, 53% of Scots backed same-sex marriage.[47]
In July 2011, a representative survey conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion showed that 43 per cent of Britons believe same-sex couples in the UK should be allowed to legally marry, 34 per cent think same-sex couples should be allowed to form civil partnerships, but not marry, and 15 per cent would grant no legal recognition to same-sex couples.[48]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-se...United_Kingdom

[Alan Fry]

Originally Posted by danielf

Yes, I'm well aware of that. So I had a look at Wikipedia, which shows support varying across polls, and ranging from 43% to 61%, numbers which I'm sure you'll agree are not a 'small minority'



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-se...United_Kingdom

Proves how much we have changed over many years for the better!

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Alan Fry

Proves how much we have changed over many years for the better!

well some have -it seems to me that there is a lot of prejudice hiding behind those much quoted passages from the [insert good book of choice ]

i just see it for what it is prejudice and bigotry hiding behind claims that it is the word/will of a deity [that's just my opinion i'm not claiming it to be the word of any one or any thing else ] .