British Anglican bishop declares support for equal civil marriage

Thinking Anglicans passes along this item, along with several others:

A Church of England bishop today supported gay marriage, saying God is not “an angry old man out to get us”. Bishop of Buckingham Alan Wilson, a married father of five, caused a row in the Church by urging leaders to “get our head around blessing gay people’s relationships”. He said in a YouTube video for the Out4Marriage campaign: “It all comes down to how we see gay people and how we see God. We don’t actually believe gay people are sick or stunted or criminal. We don’t believe God is an angry old man out to get us.“Let’s stop behaving as though we did. Recognising gay people are equal means they won’t dilute or spoil marriage but potentially enrich it.”

Official response repeats the “marriage is between one man and one woman” position, but an influential Conservative politician urges the Prime Minister not to abandon the proposed civil marriage, and to ignore tradionalists. He has polling showing that abandonment would offend more voters than it would please. Meanwhile, I believe that the Church of England secured an exemption from the law (which was also intended to appease traditionalists, but has backfired with the unchurched majority of British subjects).

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Meanwhile, a gay-friendly church in Ohio burned recently, in suspicious circumstances. It’s a troubling trend as they seem to be a gay-welcoming or progressive/liberal Christian congregation. South Bloomingville, OH: South Bloomingville Christian Church via Thinking Anglicans: CofE bishop declares support for equal civil marriage