jonathan clatworthy
publications
Sexuality
<< Response to controversy on gays and adoption agencies. Published in Signs of the Times April 2007.
Written on behalf of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union in defence of the Anglican Church
of the USA (TEC), this is a reply to papers by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan
Williams, disapproving of their decision, at their General Convention in July 2009,
not to continue their moratorium on gay bishops and same-
These pieces respond to Christian debates about sexuality.
Religious exceptions
How much respect should the religious conscience be given by a secular state? This question was debated again when new legislation forbade adoption agencies to discriminate against homosexual couples in placing children.
The religious conscience, to justify exemption from legislation, needs to provide good reasons for its stance, reasons which can be respected, if not shared, by society as a whole. The blunt instrument simply asserts ‘This is what our religion teaches, so we cannot accept the legislation’. No government can be expected to submit to demands of this type; and when they do, secularists rightly complain that religion has once again revealed itself to be dictatorial, irrational, and opposed to the nation's well-being.
Governments can, however, be reasonably expected to listen to good arguments. If religious believers think a particular piece of legislation is wrong, it is up to us to explain why we consider it wrong, and convince those outside our tradition. Full text...