Who owns marriage?

The 2nd government minister to appear here this week.

I had been hoping to write about the Coalition for Marriage campaign next week, but the top story on the Telegraph's website this morning (well, quarter past midnight - who knows what the top story will be when the sun rises?) has forced my attention in that direction. Lynne Featherstone MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Equalities (and a Lib-Dem), has issued a strong warning to the churches on their campaigning against homosexual "marriage", writing: 'you will not find us watering down this commitment.' In other words, irrespective of the letters and petitions, irrespective of the voice of the people, the government has no intention of changing its mind on the matter. Although all this is somewhat ironic, as Miss Featherstone claims that marriage is not owned by either the church or the state, but by the people.



The minister asserts: 'We are not prioritising gay rights, or trampling over tradition; we are allowing a space for the two to exist side by side ... This is not a battle between gay rights and religious beliefs', but she doesn't back her claims up with any argument. While the politicians in Westminster might prefer a both/and approach, this is clearly an either/or matter. The government knows it has to choose, and, according to Miss Featherstone, the choice has been made and minds won't be changed.

Miss Featherstone's only attempt to bolster her claims is to distinguish between religious marriage and civil marriage. Yet, the only bit of the marriage that is religious or civil in the eyes of the law is the ceremony itself. There is no legal or social distinction between civilly married couples and religiously married couples. (If she suddenly wants a category of relationship that is distinct from religious marriage, that sounds a good deal like civil partnerships, which already do exist.)

Anyway, it's late and I need to get up early, so I'll leave arguing the case for another time, but just want to point out one problem in the minister's argument for now - the question of who owns marriage.

According to Miss Featherstone marriage belongs to neither the church nor the state. (Rather cheekily she quotes Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury and supporter of the Coalition for Marriage campaign, on that; but as Lord Carey points out, she has put an 'unwarranted slant' on his words.) And, she surmises, if it's not owned by the church or the state, it must be owned by the people.

But Miss Featherstone's problem is that she's forgotten someone else. The people aren't the only other option if church and state are excluded from the running. In fact, the people don't own marriage. It's not a human invention. It's not something we instituted by referendum. Marriage, if it can said to be 'owned' by anyone, is owned by God. God instituted marriage. God gave marriage to human beings as a good and gracious gift. In the words of a well-known and widespread theological document (don't be too shocked by the source, it's right on this point - paragraph 1603):

'The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws.... God himself is the author of marriage." The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures.'

In the words of Lord Carey (to get back to a Protestant source), 'The honourable estate of matrimony precedes both the state and the church, and neither of these institutions have the right to redefine it in such a fundamental way'; the church can't change marriage because it's a permanent institution given by God Himself. So, yes Miss Featherstone, marriage doesn't belong to either church or state, but nor does it belong to the people (which really just seems to be code for the state anyway), but to God Himself.

So, the government doesn't want to change its mind. But God can change even the hardest of hearts, so pray that God would intervene in the Palace of Westminster.