Millionaire gay couple sues Church of England to get gay wedding in a church

Well, that didn’t take long, did it?

The UK Daily Mail reports.

Excerpt:

The first legal challenge to the Church of England’s ban on same-sex marriage was launched today – months before the first gay wedding can take place.

Gay father Barrie Drewitt-Barlow declared: ‘I want to go into my church and marry my husband.’ He added: ‘The only way forward for us now is to make a challenge in the courts against the Church.’

The legal move means an early test for David Cameron’s promise to the CofE and Roman Catholic bishops that no church would be forced to conduct same-sex weddings against the will of its leaders and its faithful.

Ministers set down a ‘quadruple lock’ in the new same sex marriage law – which received Royal Assent last month – which is supposed to protect those churches which oppose gay marriage.

However the guarantees will have to be tested in the courts and gay rights groups have been expecting to bring an early challenge.

How is the suit likely to be resolved?

The article notes that:

[A] succession of past court cases have resulted in defeats for Christians who were in disputes over equality laws, and in particular courts have always found in favour of gays who have challenged Christians.

In recent years notable cases have ended in the sacking of a town hall registrar who refused to conduct civil partnership ceremonies, the sack for a Relate counsellor who said he would not give sex advice to gay couples, and defeat for a couple who declined to let a room in their hotel to a gay couple on the grounds that they were unmarried.

Colin Hart, of the Coalition for Marriage said: ‘The ink’s not even dry on the Bill and churches are already facing litigation. We warned Mr Cameron this would happen, we told him he was making promises that he couldn’t possibly keep.

‘He didn’t listen. He didn’t care. He’s the one who has created this mess. Mr Cameron’s chickens are coming home to roost and it will be ordinary people with a religious belief who yet again fall victim to the totalitarian forces of political correctness.’

Mr Hart added: ‘We now face the real prospect of churches having to choose between stopping conducting weddings, or vicars, and priests defying the law and finding themselves languishing in the dock.’

Yesterday, I blogged about how gay activists are already infringing on religious liberty in the United States. It’s happening here. Isn’t interesting that many people who falsely claim to be Christian nevertheless voted for a President who is in favor of gay marriage? And now we are getting the consequences of gay marriage – the end of religions liberty.

7 thoughts on “Millionaire gay couple sues Church of England to get gay wedding in a church”

  1. You mean that Jesus didn’t say for Christians to sue churches?!? :-) This “couple’s” actions are clearly self-refuting from a Christian perspective, lending support to your final paragraph. “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” [Matthew 7:20] There sure is a LOT of apostasy roaming around these days.

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  2. Coming up – a battle which will go all the way to the supreme court in Europe and will rule in their favor, thus providing backdoor Same-sex Marriage throughout the continent.

    The ink isn’t even dry on the law yet. Notice that he’s suing his own personal church; the one that he goes to weekly, baptized his adopted son and supported him when he had thyroid cancer. Why you may ask?

    “I am still not getting what I want”.

    Outstanding.

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  3. Is there excommunication in the Anglican Church of England?
    It would seem to me a simple matter that if this couple were excommunicated for their behavior (not their sexual leanings) that they would not be able to bring a suit as they would not be members of the Church in question.
    Of course, maybe I am missing something.

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    1. Nope, we do not have a method of excommunication (although sadly I’m beginning to wish we did). Anglicanism is basically a huge umbrella organization encompassing every kind of religious expression imaginable. At this stage even Caligula could be a fully paid up member of the Anglican Church. Heck, he could be a Bishop.

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  4. Hey Wintery (It’s your Bermuda pal),
    This is a great reason to disestablish the Church of England. It is tied to the state and therefore far more vulnerable to these sorts of lawsuits. Independent Protestant Churches, including Anglican Churches, are not as susceptible. And of course, the Vatican will never budge on this issue.

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