Bishop speaks out on gay marriage (From Salisbury Journal)

Bishop speaks out on gay marriage

9:48am Monday 6th February 2012 in News By Morwenna Blake

THE Bishop of Salisbury has urged the church to have an open debate on gay marriage.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme Bishop Nicholas Holtam said the Church of England “does not meet the pastoral needs of people in our care”.

He said: “The real problem with civil partnerships is that they are a contract: there is no religious content to them whatsoever. And Christians who have contracted civil partnerships are saying that they want a covenantal relationship in which they promise themselves to one another lovingly for life and where it is possible to be prayed with and for within the life of the church.”

Bishop Holtam added that “it is appropriate to use the language of marriage in respect of same sex relationships” and said the church needs to revisit the way in which is deals with people in same sex relationships.

“There are homosexual people within the life of the church living in faithful, same sex relationships. We need to find ways to support and sustain them in that and to find a way of praying with them.”

Bishop Holtam acknowledged that this is not the position of the Church but it was appropriate that a proper and open debate now took place. “There is no change imminent, but we are no longer talking about them, we are talking about us,” he said.