Religion
Related: About this forumFormer archbishop of Canterbury attacks gay marriage at Tory conference
Lord Carey says plans would cause deep divisions and likens opponents of gay marriage to Jews in Nazi Germany
Michael White
The Guardian, Monday 8 October 2012 12.32 EDT
The former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, has accused David Cameron of "plundering" the institution of heterosexual marriage to promote same-sex marriage rights. Allowing gay marriage would cause deep divisions in society "without giving gays a single right they do not have in civil partnership", he said.
At a Coalition for Marriage rally on the fringe of the Conservative conference in Birmingham on Monday, Carey joined David Burrowes, the backbench MP for Enfield Southgate, and former MP Ann Widdecombe in protesting that neither the Lib Dem nor Tory 2010 manifesto included a pledge to legalise gay marriage.
Carey claimed that in some countries where same-sex marriage had been made legal – including Mexico, Brazil and the Netherlands – it had led to unforeseen consequences such as three-person marriages.
Asked about opponents of gay marriage being described as "bigots" – on one occasion by Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister – Carey said: "Let us remember the Jews in Nazi Germany. What started against them was when they started to be called names.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/08/archbishop-canterbury-gay-marriage-tory?CMP=twt_fd
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Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)The UK is not immune to this crap.
mr blur
(7,753 posts)Some do - e.g. the bunch of Daily Mail readers who make up the Tory Party conference - but not many beyond that.
LeftishBrit
(41,205 posts)He was appointed Archbishop by Maggie Thatcher; and recently (some time since retirement) has become a spokesman for the right, both on specifically religious-right issues as here, and in supporting the government in all its cuts and general nastiness. He's the tabloids' favourite religious figure. Probably not very influential except with people who are right-wing to start with; but a nasty bloke. Most British clergy are not like that, but some are.
rug
(82,333 posts)As I understand it, the Queen appoints the Archbishop. I take it, then, the Prime Minister makes the recommendation as he or she would do with any other major governmental office.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,320 posts)who then passes the first one straight on the the Queen for rubber-stamping - it's understood there is an order of preference. But rumour has it that Thatcher sometimes picked the second one, eg:
...
Surely there were other examples of Prime Ministerial intervention during the Thatcher years? Wasn't Bishop Leonard of Truro the second name on the list to become Bishop of London? More significantly - wasn't Carey number two on the list and was preferred by the Iron Lady to Habgood who was number one?
http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/005675.html
On a side note:
That also says "In 1991 the Church of England skipped a generation which included options such as Richard Harries (Oxford) and the former test cricketer David Sheppard (Liverpool) and instead plucked a little-known bishop from the west of England to succeed Robert Runcie. George Carey had less than three years experience as a diocesan. Should Welby emerge as Archbishop of Canterbury he will have spent less than half that time as Bishop of Durham."
How different Harries would have been to Carey:
His passion for social justice informed his liberal views. At the start of his episcopacy, he brought legal proceedings challenging the Church Commissioners' policy on investment.[13] He and his co-plaintiffs argued that the Church Commissioners placed too much emphasis on purely financial considerations and insufficient emphasis upon the promotion of the Christian faith. Although this challenge failed - the Commissioners already had an ethical investment policy, albeit one which excluded a smaller part of the UK share market than the plaintiffs had wanted to exclude - the Court recognised that it was proper for charities to consider whether their investment strategies would alienate the charity's financial supporters.[14] In 2002 Harries joined the biologist Richard Dawkins in denouncing the Emmanuel Schools Foundation for teaching creationism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Harries,_Baron_Harries_of_Pentregarth
(Section 28 was an infamous Thatcher law forbidding the 'promotion' of homosexuality by local councils and schools. No-one knew exactly what was meant by 'promotion', but, not wanting to be fined or dismissed, most played it safe and hardly mentioned it in schools).
rug
(82,333 posts)Clarence Thomas comes to mind.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,320 posts)He was quite rude and pompous in his reply, as well as standing by his lie. It's appalling he got to the top of the church. I don't think I know of a Church of England priest at any level with less integrity.
