Gay Marriage: A Rant

So, I posted a few months back about how I didn't really care whether people wanted to be gay, bi or metrosexual, but I was beginning to think that gay marriage was a bad idea.

And, as the nation awaits the government's new plans for the introduction of gay marriage, I find myself leaning even more this way. I am, however, somewhat conflicted.

You see, in theory, the protection of religious freedom should allow gay couples to get married in a church which is happy with that, whilst not forcing other churches to carry out gay weddings if they believe this to be in contradiction with their beliefs, should come as a sensible compromise position. I should be applauding this proposal.

However... I can't help thinking that, somewhere along the line, the only gay couple in the village are going to find they can't get married in their quaint local chapel, and, fuelled by righteous outrage, they will mount a legal challenge and force the church to marry them, regardless of the curch's position on homosexual relationships.

But what really ticked me off was seeing a gay couple on the news recently, saying 'Neither of us are religious, but...' And as a Christian, that's what worries me. This whole debate is going to lead to a place where people can say 'I'm not religious, but I want churches to do things my way'. It's about government trying to push a secular agenda into the church. It's about non-believers telling the church what it should believe, and what is should practice. And surely that can't be right?