There was, as Freddy has said, something inevitable about the Church of England’s response to the imminent prospect of gay marriage. A convinced Anglican, who also has intimate knowledge of constitutional law and decoding legislation, recently told me in no uncertain terms that the government’s plan could force the church to schismatic ends because, for it, the division between religious and civil marriage is not clear. Marriage may be a sacrament before God, but it is most certainly a legal institution, defined and licensed by the State. This places the established church and its clerics in an exposed position should parliament chose to redefine marriage under English law. (See points 21 and 24 in the annex to today’s CofE document for further details.)
My devout parishioner also noted the irony of a Conservative prime minister seeking the queen’s assent for a bill that would undo her coronation oath to defend the Anglican supremacy.
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