Off the Record

honeymooners

By Diogenes (articles ) | August 07, 2005 9:22 PM

The UK Telegraph reports -- to the surprise of no one except Neville Chamberlain -- that the treaty whereby clergy in same-sex marriages agree to live as brother and brother is a flop:

The Church of England's crisis over homosexuality deepened yesterday after gay clergy said that they would defy their bishops over civil partnerships. Some told The Daily Telegraph that they had no intention of assuring their bishops that they will be sexually abstinent when they "marry" their partners. One said he was "furious" with the way homosexual clergy were being treated and gay rights activists predicted a widespread revolt.

That should impress the Muslims. Make way for converts.

Several hundred clergy are thought likely to take advantage of the new law and homosexual rights campaigners said that most would refuse to tell their bishop about their behaviour in the bedroom.

One of them, the Rev Stephen Coles, the vicar of St Thomas in Finsbury Park, north London, and a member of General Synod, said: "If a bishop asks me if I am having sex I will say, it's none of your business. Frankly, it is a breach of my human rights for him even to ask."

Didn't take long, did it? "How dare you suggest I'm not hetero?!" begat "How dare you suggest I'm unchaste?!" begat "How dare you ask me to pretend I'm not shagging Wilfred?!" I predict episcopal calls for measured, calm, charitable debate based on quality scriptural scholarship -- resulting in another Task Force.

Hey, it worked for Neville.

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Show 3 Comments? (Hidden)Hide Comments
  • Posted by: - Aug. 08, 2005 9:58 AM ET USA

    When I read such things an awful dread grips me. What a shock it would be if the next big scandal to break were to read: "Diogenes comes out"?

  • Posted by: The OX - Aug. 08, 2005 5:56 AM ET USA

    Thanks "D". I have been asking how you consumate a ( Same Sex Marriage ) ? "How dare you ask me to pretend I'm not shagging Wilfred?!" Now my question. What is shagging ?

  • Posted by: Eleazar - Aug. 07, 2005 9:31 PM ET USA

    What we're seeing, in the complete unraveling of the Church of England, could be a foreshadowing of what will happen to the American Catholic Church.

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