Churches may cease solemnising marriages

#1106 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 2 August 2015

The Presbyterian Church in NSW voted recently to ask its General Assembly of Australia to withdraw the whole Church from the Marriage Act if marriage is redefined to include same sex couples, on the ground that such a change would “corrupt a good gift of God into a wrong.”

If the national body approves, Presbyterian ministers would no longer be permitted to solemnise marriages in Australia.

Asked if the Anglican Diocese of Sydney had similar plans, Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, said a report on the issue was being prepared, but added:

I think better to stay as engaged as we possibly can rather than too quickly find ourselves breaking that long and historic relationship between Christian marriage and the state.

Bishop Forsyth said, if the law changes, it should “be done in a way that makes it easier to maintain conscience on what would be two different understandings of marriage.”

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