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CEN: South African leader opposes gay marriage
12/10/2004
The Archbishop of Cape Town has criticised as un-Christian a court decision that paves the way for gay marriages in South Africa.
The Most Rev Njongonkulu Ndungane stated that the November 30 ruling by South Africa?s Supreme Court of Appeal that the common-law definition of marriage should be changed from a "union between a man and a woman" to a "union between two persons" was contrary to Christian teaching.
?As far as we are concerned as a church, our understanding of marriage is between a man and a woman. And as a church, and the Anglican Church in particular, we have said no to same-sex unions" Archbishop Ndungane told the press.
Equal Rights campaigners, however, welcomed the ruling, pushing for further government steps towards legislating gay unions.
??our case will now challenge the government to recognise, regulate and protect marriages between two people of the same sex in the same way that it does for heterosexual couples,? Paul Tilly of the Equality Project told a Sunday newspaper at the weekend.
Archbishop Ndungane said the Anglican Church would not recognise same-sex marriages and said Church teaching would not be affected by the Court decision.
The Christian teaching is that marriage is between a man and a woman. And therefore that is where the Church is," he said.
The General Secretary of South Africa?s Council of Churches disagreed. Molefe Tsele stated on December 2 that while Christians had not yet recognised same-sex marriages, the core doctrines of the Church did not rule them out. ?The core teachings of Christianity do not explicitly prohibit the validation of faithful, loving same-sex relationships," he said.
The ruling comes after a survey investigating social attitudes in South Africa recently revealed that 78 per cent of respondents believed it is ?always wrong for two adults of the same sex to have sexual relations.?
The new research, which analyses the results of the 2003 South African Social Attitudes Survey, shows that only five per cent of South Africans said they saw nothing wrong with two adults having same-sex relations, it was reported.
The ruling must now be confirmed by South Africa?s Constitutional Court, which may ask parliament to implement legislation before gay marriages gets the final go-ahead.
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