Marriage debate drags on

#945 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 17 Aug 2014.

With Liberal Democratic and Greens Senators actively pursuing reform of the Marriage Act in the federal parliament, a leading family-values magazine has claimed the push for same sex marriage is based on propaganda rather than facts.

An article in the latest issue of VoxPoint (Aug 2014), published by Family Voice Australia, notes that evidence from New Zealand and Canada, where gay marriage is legal, shows that changing the definition of marriage would not slow the decline in overall support for marriage.

While there are several reasons for the marriage decline, a key factor is a growing community feeling that marriage is meaningless. Marriage used to be special – a lifelong, man-woman union providing security for their natural children. Now it is sometimes seen as a possibly temporary union of any two people of any sex. Many people no longer bother with marriage – and their children miss out on vital stability.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.