Talk about catching them young! According to a recent article in the UK’s Daily Express, British schools will be “forced to teach children as young as five the importance of gay marriage” and teachers who refuse because of their religious beliefs “could face disciplinary action.”
The paper revealed that the British government will next month “publish its consultation on giving same-sex marriage the same legal definition as traditional marriage.”
But while this is seen as “the first step toward a gay marriage bill . . . ministers insist churches will not be forced to marry gay couples.”
Section 403 of the UK’s Education Act of 1996 places a legal requirement on schools to teach children about ‘the importance of marriage,’” says the Express story.
The Tory MP for Wellingborough, Peter Bone is quoted as saying: “If marriage is defined, schools will have no choice but to give children equivalent teaching on same sex-marriage, even those of a very young age.”
Meanwhile, campaigners against the coalition government’s plans warn it will “put classrooms on the frontline of a political correctness war and parents who object could be classed as bigots.”
The Coalition for Marriage, which includes bishops, politicians and lawyers, warns that “gay rights are being championed at the expense of the rights of Christians and other faiths.” Already the group has collected over 36,000 signatures against the change. However, Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone has told the church it is up to the nation, not religious institutions, to decide who can marry. “This is not a battle between gay rights and religious beliefs,” she said. “This is about the principles of family, society and personal freedoms.”
The minister’s expressed position is reminiscent of the House debate that preceded the legalizing of some abortions in Saint Lucia, during which the
gender affairs minister Menissa Rambally, an advertised Seventh Day Adventist, had famously said: “I am very aware that the church of which I am a member has been loudly criticized for its silence on this controversy. I need not speak for the church, the churches can speak for themselves.”
She went on to say that on some issues the church’s position was predictably uncompromising, therefore not worth debating.
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