You know your elected representatives are behind the times when even the bloody tories are more liberal.

Cameron gave his m.p.s a FREE vote not on the whip…see this Enda..this is how its done you…..

Fair enough but The bible also forbids working on a Sunday but people don’t appear to have a problem with that? The bible is open to interpretation, one can find passages to back up most view points.

I think you have missed the point, if a person doesn’t consider themselves to be a member of religious grouping they shouldn’t have the option to get married in a church belonging to that religious grouping! Only a member of a religious grouping should be allowed to get married in a church of that religious grouping as should apply to
Heterosexual members too! But if a member of that religious grouping who practices that religion wants to get married in a church of that religious grouping and the particular group wants to allow it then they shouldn’t be prevented from doing so!

The Church, I’m sick of people talking about the Church when they mean the Roman Church or the Anglian Church, and say their not homophobic, they’re just worried about freedom of religion, how about the Quakers or the Unitarians’ freedom of religion?
The Catholics don’t own the idea of religious marriage and they definitely don’t own civil marriage.
They say they’ll be forced by EU laws to marry gay people but they also refuse to marry divorced straight people and have any of them successfully brought a case against them? No.
In almost every field religions are exempt from equality laws, this will just be another law they’ll be exempt from.
Frankly, we have bent over backwards to accommodate the Roman Church’s medieval ideas, maybe its time for Rome to render onto Caesar what is Caesar’s?

Your bible prescribes that u as a female should be tied to the kitchen sink princess :p

The bible says a lot of strange things. Tell me amy do you wear only one type of cloth? If you dont I will arrange a stoning for you. Do you have your hair held back in a veil and are living at home with your father if you are still single? If not I will be coordinating with your Dad to sell you into slavery.

All in the bible! Check leviticus.

@sandra. Why not list all the things the Bible classes as an abomination? If you did I’m sure you would find you are also an abomination to your God!

I respect religion right up to the point where it discriminates against good people.

Wow oh boy! Generalisation much? You know a lot of gay people then do u? All bitter are they? Grow up.

When I see the word “abomination” I loose interest in the rest of the post as you just know there is no Christian feeling or understanding in the person who uses such words.

Bob, christianity has been well compromised by its hypocritical leadership.

…apparently in th 60′s when the activity between consenting adults behind well closed doors was made legal in Britain…Harold Macmillan was credited with: “bloody hell they’ll be makin it compulsory next”…

What’s it to you Amy if two people who love each other want to get married? No victim no crime.

No one will want to have the happiest day of their lives somewhere they are not welcome! I definitely wouldn’t! The opt in rule makes absolute sense! Before long every one will catch ip and realise unions strengthening families and communities are in the interests of society as a whole!

Oh the bible says so? That’s ok then.

@ Oh boy. There probably aren’t many but I actually know one.

Hooray!

once two people are happy it shouldn’t matter . life is full of doom and gloom as it is with the way. the economy is without this. fair play is what I say. be happy. same sex marriage or not

Good!! Happy for all of them! I hope to be going to loads of my friends weddings now :)))

Tell me what does the bible say about child abuse?

Kim – are you aware that there are other religions and systems of belief than your own?

Oh Boy, u do realise that not everybody is Catholic?

@David. Marriage between two people should have nothing to do with any religious organisation that you are not a believer in.
The Roman Catholic Church and it’s messengers have a LOT to answer for in more ways than one, but I personally have not thrown out the message because the messenger is corrupt!
Corrupt being a nice word for some of them!!
Although Im probably not seen (by other catholics) as a true Catholic i have taken my own meaning from the bible and teachings over the years but I would not ever say that my beliefs should be the way everyone practices their catholic faith, it’s each to their own and I for one don’t believe that God wants me to persecute gay people. I believe he wants me to treat people the same way I wish to be treated… As equal!

Sandra has been on twitter less than 24 hours. She was obviously too engrossed in her bible studies.

Anyway Sandra…. As Christ would want me to do… Here is my other cheek.

And as its a friday evening and I think God has a sense of humour, heres my hairy butt cheek, you can kiss that aswell!

Why?

Good stuff. Although I have to laugh at the Church of England’s response about diluting the sanctity of marriage or some sh*te. Someone should remind them of their divorce and separation rates…

Nice one Mr. Buggy:)

Yes Graham that’s very true, an I’m not looking to get married in their place of worship either nor would I dare to tell them that their religion/beliefs are nothing more than fairytails. Just because they are not my beliefs doesn’t give me the right to condemn theirs.
Just so we’re clear I have no problem with any kinda of marriage, I just don’t see the point in wanting to get married in a place im neither wanted in or do i believe in.

Opposite sex marriage is so yesterday, gay marriage is the way forward, stupid heterosexuals!!!

Really Sandra? Let’s wait and see shall we? Ps as previously stated there is more than one type of church in Ireland. Don’t be so vain as to think that things will never change just because you say so. Protestantism arose from a rebellion within the Catholic Church, perhaps some similar rebellion may happen again

Yes Amy? Why?

Adam and Steve

Very very ironic, when you consider how homoerotic a lot of Christian iconography is.

I’m not bitter towards the church….couldn’t care less what a believe system based on a bunch of tales created under a belief system of many millennia ago thinks, it’s ALL irrelevant to today!

But I respect people’s beliefs up until the point they try to discriminate against me using a book to force their biggot views on me and put me down. No on has that right!

BTW I like butter too but I’m bitter towards what it does to my waist!

As a gay man myself, whos seen alot of change regarding tolerance in Ireland, (it was illegal to be gay in 1982) its great to see the UK leading the way on the issue of gay marriage. Personally I dont want to get married in a church or other place of worship if that faith doesnt recognise the union as two PEOPLE, rather than two men or two women who are prepared to commit themselves to one another. I agree with the earlier statement that it should be a celebration, not a protest. I also feel sorry,not angry, for those who think that quoting passages from the bible proclaims their correctness…i wouldnt get mad when my 6 year old niece tells me stories from the book shes reading about Santa and thinks that is a part of reality, so I wont get mad with them either. I have my own God.. I choose not to lock myself into a narrow set of ways by which to live my life, otherwise what would be the purpose of learning and experience? For me, living thinking I was under the eye of a vengeful God that didnt approve of me or the man I loved would be far worse than fire and brimstone… But whether you “pious” believers want to accept it or not.. Equality is coming.. You cant stop it.. Politically, socially and eventually, morally, homosexuals will have everything you have… Except maybe the smug disposition and dedication to archaic doctrine.

The church of England is an established religion, if you live in their area you have a right to get married in your local church, so any law allowing them to opt in is discriminatory, it may be trying to balance the right to freedom of belief with the right to equality but it’s got to discriminate against someone.

And there’s loads of compromise in christianity -Sunday is not the sabbath, it’s a compromise…Christmas? You mean winter solstice celebrations and candlemas. Saint Bridget of the 5 acre cloak or whatever it was??. You mean pagan goddess of spring Bríd. The list is endless, everywhere Christianity colonised it rebranded festivals, saints, traditions, worshipped bones, statues, special magic blood and compromised its own by pretending there was any truth in this idolatry.

Definitely a good thing. Let’s sit back and laugh, as the thick-headed, spud-picking clodhoppers of Fine Gael (with a few Dubs thrown in for good measure), and their apostolic sheep, find themselves lost in the wilderness of their own gold-standard bullshit. Amen.

@ Bob Boyle, didn’t the Roman Church decided which gospels are considered canonical (basically taking the ones that supported creating a theocracy) so to say the church is based on the bible is just another way of saying that it’s based on its own traditions.
And again another Catholic who thinks that they speak for all Christianity and before you say Unitarians or Quakers aren’t real Christians, consider this, how many people are dead because of the Roman Church compared to the Unitarians?
Pro-equality Christians maybe be small in number today and their influence currently small but didn’t Jesus say something about the meek having some big inheritance coming their way?

Good for Britain! now ireland get your ass In gear.

You do realise that it doesn’t FORCE places of faith to do this? It just allows it as long as the Church, Mosque, etc, however unlikely, decides that they want to perform a same-sex marriage. Read up on it before posting blindly, people.

Lol Chris! Perhaps I should have used ‘verses’?

Well?! Why Amy??

Where art thou Amy?

Tanya, we are talking about the UK the majority are Anglican or belong to it’s various off shoots. Well done Cameron, impressed and a free vote as well Enda take note.

LGBT all the way. And that’s from a straight (whatever that means) person. I salute you.

The Catholic Church does not own the rights to the Adam and Eve story. Which is what it is. Its in the Bible which is the foundation of all Christian faiths. I was brought up a Christian in Ireland (not Catholic) but if you believe that the world began by two people in a garden then that’s fine. I personally believe it to be a fairy tale. And now that I am an adult and can form my own opinion I no longer believe in any of it. That’s fine if you want to, I respect that.

I wish they’d make a film about the bible ’cause I can’t be arsed reading it !

But it’s ok to be a child molester and be catholic as long as your not gay

Kim it’s about equality. I may not be christian but there are gay ones. As long as they or their leaders don’t enforce their doctrone on my life I’ll happily respect them worshiping leprachauns to be honest.

There are plenty of religions that welcome gay and lesbian weddings Kim – such as the Quakers as mentioned in the article – many of them are even christian. The change in the law allows churches to perform the service, it doesn’t compel them to. That to my mind is an ideal situation. You ask why would a gay couple want to marry in a place where they aren’t welcome? I would ask why would they want to be part of a faith that doesn’t welcome them?

The problem is Kim, The Roman church does not just want the right not to preform same-sex marriages but also wants to prevent LGBT people from availing of civil marriage at all.
This whole nonsense about being forced to perform same-sex marriages is just another red herring to allow them to exert undue influence over civil society and continue to deprive LGBT people and their families of the protections and right of civil marriage because they believe their god told them to persecute gay people.

This is 2012 Amy, not 1812, respect your fellow man.

I never work on a Sunday! #Respect the sabbath!

As taxpayers, we contribute towards churches in the form of tax breaks. If churches want to avail of this resource, they should be required to perform certain community celebration functions, birth, marriage, death and rites of passage.

Gay people should not be catholic as the Catholic church do not accept gay people. Why would you want to belong to a church who discriminate against you? I don’t understand!?

You have to respect their right to hold the belief, not the actual belief. Religious people should respect homosexuals right to marriage. If you respected everything said in that ancient fairy tale book, woman would be marrying their rapists and slavery would still exist, according to the bible.

because the bible forbids it. I’m an atheist and I support marriage for all 100% but you still have respect the belief system of those that may be of a different faith to yourself.

So far I’ve read on this that Catholics are believers of fairy tails etc.
If you are all so against the catholic church, the bible and the catholic religion, well then why on earth would you want to get married in the catholic church with teachings from the bible and surrounded by followers of the catholic religion?
That just makes no sense!

If you want to get married in a church why not just start a gay one , the Catholic Church/ Anglican Church Muslim faith do not recognise gay marriage , respect that and do it for yourself , if you try and force folks to accept something they don’t believe in you are as intolerant as they are.

I’m assuming you are taking this from the bible. As an atheist I believe that everyone has the right to hold their own religious views but I don’t see how people can be so selective from there holy text. For instance working on Sundays is punishable by death (exodus 32:5) and eating shellfish is said to be an abomination as well, according to the bible, but how come no one who claims homosexuality is an abomination is claiming we shouldn’t eat shellfish (Lev 11:10). How can you pick and chose an abomination ? While you didn’t directly imply homosexuality is an abomination I’m assuming your backward thinking as to homosexual marriage being band in churches is based upon that very teaching.

Like I said I believe everyone has the right to practice their own religious views and beliefs but I draw the line when people start discriminating against others based upon a religious text which has so many other rules that people just ignore ! Why shouldn’t and woman and a woman or a man and a man be allowed to marry if they chose too ?
/rant

Because the church is founded upon the teachings of the Bible. I understand that there are people who do not like this; however the likes and dislikes of different people bears no philosophical relevance to the teachings of Christianity. If people want to have gay marriages, then they need a new set of beliefs as Christianity is not up for compromise.

Yep I see your point Graham and I yes maybe that is the bigger question.
Then if it’s not your religion/beliefs/faith people really would have no interest in the Roman Catholic Church or anything they have to say in the matter
I mean that would apply then to a lot of other situations other than just marriage like christenings, 1st holy communion, conformation etc why do these things if you done not believe in them or think its all just fairytails and the likes.

They are probably not interested in religion, but just want to make a point. Gay people don’t give a shit about Christianity because they are butter in the first place because the bible and the church knocks them.

Go build your own church or whatever. Jeez.

Just one question for the people who dont have a id on your post and looking down along them there seems to be a lot of you is it because you want to shout a lot of rubbish and its not meant

To tony griffin
Well tony i didnt state that i was the only one who God has enlightened. But you to
can be if you open your heart and in humility ask him to do so . It shows a lack of
understanding on your part when you reduce my faith to afew stories, when in fact my
continued faith has been built up over years of prayer and struggle and experience . so
please dont assume anything to do with my faith. thank you . legality and morality can be an eternity apart.
Keeping “the law ” is not the same as keeping the law of truth and love based only in God. The church is
full of sinners and so it has the whole spectrum of humanity present, but that is why Christ came ,to save the sinner. People will use the church for their own ends . While Jesus said ” If you love me you will keep my commandments. Christ spoke in imperatives not supposition.

Are Any gay people here regular mass goers?

Bitter, not butter.

It puzzles me why gay people want to be able to marry which itself is a heterosexual fertility rite. It is s ploy by the government to tame and subdue gay sexuality into straight models of being . In fact the pressure to have gay marriage is mainly by Stonewall and there is little interest amongst gays outside the Stonewall circle . The lack of interest is down to the fact that in the UK , there are civil partnerships which are a similar thing. Gay marriage would therefore add no new rights to already existing ones.Why then is Cameron so excited by gay marriage ?Most seem bemused by the proposal. Can we really expect gay men to look seriously into each other’s eyes and promise fidelity ? Gay men being faithful ? That is a joke ! Why force a square peg into a round hole ? We are not all the same so why treat us as if we were .Equality does not mean sameness.

The God of the bible, who is Jesus Christ, has given us complete free reign to be whoever we want to be, you can do whatever your hearts desire and He intended us to have this free will but it does not mean our actions do not have consequences. We cannot expect to walk lawlessly before an omnipotent being unnoticed.
When we use something out of the bounds that it was intended to be used for, then the guarantee has been broken and the consequences for that abuse can have ill effects.
According to the bible, man was intended to be with woman, not just in a sexual manner, but in relational and spiritual way. Its a three part union. The result of that relationship is the creation of love and life, new life!
There is not one living soul today that was born through a homosexual relationship, this has to tell you something about where this kind of relationship leads to!
The bible is a bastion for protecting the correct order of our core relationship, marriage between a man and a woman, without protection a city is destroyed and overrun by its enemies…
No bible believing church can or ever should accept same sex unions if they want to protect the natural order of things according to the good book.

There are plenty of films portraying the different books of the bible available on Amazon.

That you go to the Big House and room with Bubba

Interesting, all my posts have been deleted. I’ve never known the journalist to operate like this before.

Keith – leaders have compromised for sure, but Christianity (as in the Biblical doctrines) remain unchanged.

David – within the Christian worldview, the ‘piecing’ together of the Bible’s different books is not an issue. God inspired man to write the Bible and to put it together.

I’m not sure what relevance your other comments have regards this discussion.

Regards