As a lifelong Conservative, I should like to make it absolutely clear that I am totally opposed to same sex marriage and am extremely angry with David Cameron for going back on his word to protect marriage in churches. He announced on Friday that he is now pushing for same-sex marriage in churches. The news of this u-turn has been reverberating around Britain ever since.
Like the majority of Christians, this is what I believe:
We
solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.
ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.
The Government had always promised that same-sex weddings would not be allowed in churches and other religious premises. This was said all over its consultation document. As you may know, the Member of Parliament for Winchester Mr Steve Brine MP has specifically relied on this promise to try to reassure voters in his constituency.
Now the Prime Minister has broken this vital promise.
Many people are shocked that even before the consultation results are released, the Prime Minister has so dramatically shifted the goal posts. If marriage is redefined, religious believers will be exposed to litigation and the European courts – just for marrying people as they have done for centuries.
Of course many people who believe in traditional marriage don’t go to church. But everyone is asking: who can trust David Cameron on his gay marriage plans? And if they can't trust him on this, what else can they trust him on?
And everyone can now see that redefining marriage will be a massive cultural change.
Please email Mr Steve Brine MP (
steve.brine.mp@parliament.uk) urgently and tell him that the Government must drop its deeply unpopular plans to redefine marriage.
I reproduce here the latest communication from Coalition for Marriage.
The Government is in growing trouble over its plans to redefine marriage.
Today MPs and the media exposed the sham consultation process for everyone
to see. The Government claimed this was the ‘biggest listening exercise’ ever
carried out – but ignored 500,000 signatories of the C4M national petition!
The House of Commons has heard that the Government plans to push on with its
highly controversial plans, relying on a slight majority of consultation
responses (if the C4M petition is completely excluded).
But the Government’s online consultation response form, upon which it
depends, was wide open to abuse – it was anonymous and could be completed by
anyone in the world, as many times as they liked!
We raised these concerns at the time with senior officials, but our warnings
were ignored. It looks like the Government is ‘cooking the books’.
Other aspects of the plans are coming under fire. As you know, David Cameron
revealed on Friday that he wants to introduce same-sex marriages in churches.
This would be a huge social change and has provoked amazement and opposition
across the PM’s Conservative Party.
Equalities Minister, Maria Miller, was under such pressure she had to bring
forward the announcement about the consultation responses. Mrs Miller addressed
the Commons at lunchtime today. She repeatedly promised a ‘quadruple lock’ to
protect churches and other religious premises. But this ignores the millions of
people whose civil liberties at work will be under threat if marriage is
redefined. And most people realise that in time the European Court of Human
Rights will back gay marriage, whatever Government Ministers may say today.
Please do email your
MP about David Cameron’s big policy change to introduce same-sex marriage in
churches.
What’s ahead?
According to media reports, the Government will introduce its Bill to
redefine marriage in January.
We know that MPs who were previously undecided are moving our way. The C4M
national petition continues to grow every day – it’s now over 620,000! The more
people sign the petition, the bigger the network of marriage campaigners will
become. C4M is focused on building that momentum, and ensuring the arguments
against redefining marriage are heard far and wide.
Thank you to all those who have been financially supporting us so far. It is
making a real difference. Together with you we are winning the argument.
Be assured that the Government faces an almighty battle ahead in Parliament.
Yours sincerely,
Colin Hart
Campaign Director
Coalition for Marriage
I am a lifelong Conservative and join with many other members of the Party in condemning the Prime Minister for this u-turn and I ask for your support in helping us to prevent this bill from being presented to parliament.
The Government has no mandate for redefining marriage because it was not a
manifesto pledgeand the latest news on church weddings shows that the plans will change the
meaning of marriage for everyone.No-one will believe David Cameron’s promises on his gay marriage
plans because, as mentioned above, the ECHR will inevitably legislate in favour of homosexuals.The Government should be concentrating on reviving the economy, not
meddling with marriage.Civil partnerships already give same-sex couples full legal equality, so
there’s no need to redefine marriage.The latest polls show 62 per cent of the public want to keep marriage as
it is.People shouldn't be treated as outcasts just because they believe in
traditional marriage,
which would have a big impact on what children learn about
marriage in schools.
This will decimate the party, paeticularly as UKIP are against same sex marriage!
In order to protect marriage please would you write to your MP and make the points above and also sign the petition on http://c4m.org.uk/ if you haven't already done so.
chris@chrishuhne.org.uk As a LibDem he is probably very much in favour of same sex marriage but he needs to know his constituents' feelings.
steve.brine.mp@parliament.uk Steve Brine is opposed to same sex marriage, particularly in churches, and is a good Conservative MP, so he would appreciate your support.
Proper Conservative Government Can and Will Work
I should like to make it clear that I am a traditional Tory and have no time for so-called modernisation. The government inherited a terrible economic situation from the awful Labour government, which had done so much to wreck the country, and it should be concentrating on the economy, not wasting its time on the irrelevance of same sex marriage, for just 5% of the population, who already have civil partnerships.
David Cameron has the right stance on Europe and performed robustly in Prime Minister's Questions today, BUT HE MUST BE DEFEATED OVER THESE PROPOSALS. I am speaking for virtually everyone I meet on the doorstep and for virtually all the party members I know.
As I say to waverers, don't judge the Conservative party by the Coalition. Judge it by us, the grass-roots workers. The LibDems want integration with Europe, the countryside scarred with windfarms - and of course the inevitable power cuts as the supply is inconsistent - and the legalisation of cannabis and prostitution. We want small government and the reduction of the national debt without scaring wealth creators away from our country.
Today's publication of immigration figures shows just how disastrous Labour's immigration policy was and we are already reeling from their disastrous economic policies, so we can't afford another Labour government, so let's return to a proper Conservative party.