Politics
Monday January 24, 2005
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
United Church of Canada Petitions MPs in Support of Same-Sex Marriage
Says scripture "can be altered or re-interpreted based on changes in society"
TORONTO, January 24, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The United Church of Canada officially endorsed same-sex “marriage” Friday, in a letter encouraging lawmakers to vote in favour of extending marriage privileges to homosexuals.
“The United Church of Canada requests the Government of Canada to recognize same-sex civil marriages in federal marriage legislation,” Moderator Right Rev. Dr. Peter Short said in a letter to MPs.
Dr. Short explained in his letter how the United Church, in 1988, welcomed all persons “who profess faith in Jesus Christ, regardless of their sexual orientation,” to become active as ordained ministers within the church.
In addition, “in 1992, the church mandated that liturgical and pastoral resources be made available to congregations for same-sex covenants,” his letter continues. “Recent United Church resources for marriage preparation make no distinction between heterosexuals and homosexuals.”
Arguing that the words of scripture, although taking an “unfavourable view of intimate same-sex relationship,” can be altered or re-interpreted based on changes in society, Dr. Short said, “It is never legitimate to use the words of scripture to promote a loveless agenda.”
[Dr. Short may be alluding to Leviticus, or perhaps to the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, which states: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders.”]
“I write to you in the hope that you will resist the assumption that anyone who speaks from Christian faith, tradition, and values must be against equal marriage,” his letter concludes. “Those who claim that homosexual people threaten to dismantle the value of heterosexual marriage would do well to remember that if anyone destroys marriage, it is married people, not gays and lesbians.”
Read the letter online at:
http://www.united-church.ca/moderator/short/2005/0117.shtm
tv
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Toronto Archbishop Decries Morgentaler Order of Canada - Sets Sunday as Day of Prayer Against Abortion
- Shock: Connecticut Supreme Court Strikes Down State Ban on Same-sex "Marriage"
- Boycott Successful: McDonald's Abandons Homosexual Activism
- Pro-life Efforts Redouble as U.K. Embryo Bill Goes Back to House of Commons
- Host Desecration Videos Back on YouTube
- Mark Steyn "Not Guilty" of "Islamophobia": Human Rights Commission
- Brampton Catholic High School To Host Pro-abort Liberal Leader Stephane Dion
- Exclusive Interview with "Fireproof" Co-Star Erin Bethea
- Oregon Court Orders Frozen Embryos Destroyed, Considered "Property Rights" Issue
- Canadian Archdiocese Advertising Fundraiser for Anti-Catholic Abortion/Condom Promoter
- Barbara Kay - Poland's "preemie miracle" is an embarrassing postscript to Henry Morgentaler's Order of Canada
- Attempts to Impose Legal Abortion on Northern Ireland will Trigger Constitutional Crisis say MLAs
- Heartland Church Apologizes: Says Heartland is "Unequivocally Pro-Life," Affirms Lifechain
Most Read this Week
- Canadian Artist and Catholic Novelist Michael O'Brien on Modesty in the Culture of Shamelessness
- Amazing Stories Come out of 2008 Life Chain
- Video Catches Planned Parenthood Covering Up Statutory Rape
- Heartland Christian Church Demands Peaceful Pro-Life LifeChain Participants Leave
- Franciscan University Board Member Backs Obama, School Distances Itself
- The Palin-Biden Debate and Where Things Stand Now
- Mandatory Homosexual Indoctrination in Grade School Survives after Supreme Court Turns Down Case
- The Silver Lining of an Obama Victory
- Harper Would Have to Personally Kill an Unborn Baby to Avoid the Hidden Agenda Charge
- Pro-life Hero Linda Gibbons Arrested Again, Only Days after Acquittal
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.