Gay marriage in church?

David Cameron believes that gay marriage should become the law of the land.  In a much repeated media-byte he said it is because he's a Conservative that he wants to do this.  I find myself telling other Christians this is no big deal - and telling people who are not Christians that it is.

How does that work you may ask!

For many, particularly those who are concerned about the rights of the individual in society, gay civil marriage is a straightforward and long overdue reform.  If the Church of England and the Catholic Church have problems with it, this would seem to many to be a typical example of the way the churches are a hundred years behind everybody else in their ways of thinking.  The churches would not be forced to carry out gay weddings, they argue, so their making difficulties would appear to be an outrageous interference in the rights of others.

However, there is a strong possibility that if gay marriage were enshrined in English law, priests who refused to carry them out would find themselves in court, if, as seems quite likely, those who support the idea of gay marriage in church take their cases to the European Court of Human Rights.  A further consequence could well be that conducting gay marriages would be included in priests' job descriptions.  Many priests would resign.  Secularists probably don't see this as a problem.  But it does, most certainly, make it a big deal, and something that needs more discussion and thought.

So why do I tell other Christians that this is not a big deal?  First, I have never regarded the conducting of marriage services as the core activity of the Church.  The core activity of the Church is loving God and one's neighbour and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ, in every place and in every situation.  It doesn't mean enforcing Christian ideas on other people, but it does mean putting Christian ideas into practice, and talking about them, on every possible occasion.  (Clearly Christians find themselves being laughed at when they do this.) Unconsciously I believe, the Church of England has opted for an easier, safer, way of engaging with people - when they are at their weakest - in the context of christenings, marriages, and funerals.  

Christian marriage undoubtedly has a special meaning, which can be found from a number of passages in the New Testament.  How far this special meaning should be reflected in the law of the land should be a matter for national debate, during which politicians should perhaps listen carefully to what their constituents think.