Will the European court force churches to conduct gay weddings?

Would the European Court of Human Rights force churches to conduct same-sex marriages against their will? That’s the professed fear of some opponents of the Same Sex Marriage Bill being debated in the Commons today. The Church of England sent MPs a briefing paper saying ‘We doubt the ability of the Government to make the legislation watertight against challenge in the European courts’, and such fears have been invoked in today’s debate by Graham Brady and other Tory backbenchers. They present their opposition as a defence of religious freedom (even though maintaining the current law restricts the religious freedom of those churches who would like to perform same-sex marriages).

Such fears were stoked by a Daily Mail article last year, reporting the ECtHR’s decision in Gas and Dubois v. France. The Mail wrongly claimed that:

‘The ruling also says that if gay couples are allowed to marry, any church that offers weddings will be guilty of discrimination if it declines to marry same-sex couples.