Catholic last minute attempts to block UK government's same-sex marriage bill

[Lights]

A million anti-gay marriage postcards were handed out at Catholic masses over the weekend as the Catholic Church began last-ditch efforts to mobilise opposition to the government’s Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

The postcards, designed to be filled in and sent to local MPs, ask them to vote against the bill.

The Archbishop of Southwark, the Most Reverend Peter Smith urged Catholics that the “time to act is now”.

In a letter, the Archbishop Smith said it was important that MPs “be made aware of the strength of feeling on this issue”.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/01/28/uk-catholics-hand-out-1-million-anti-gay-marriage-postcards/

In other news relating to the same-sex marriage bill being debated in the House of Commons on the 5th February (next week), largely expecting a majority in favour of the legislation:

Catholic Church warns gay teachers they risk the sack if they marry or enter into civil partnerships

Openly gay senior teachers at Catholic schools could face demotion or the sack if they fail to live according to the gospel of the Roman Catholic Church.

The booklet, ‘Christ at the Centre: Why the Church provides Catholic Schools’, says that senior teachers in “a partnership of intimacy with another person, outside a form of marriage approved by the church…can be removed from office.”

Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society said: “It is scandalous that the Catholic Church is able to use taxpayers’ money to practice this sort of crude discrimination. Ironically the vast majority of British Catholics disagree with their church’s hard line on matters such as homosexuality, contraception and cohabitation.”

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/01/28/catholic-church-warns-gay-teachers-they-risk-the-sack-if-they-marry-or-enter-into-civil-partnerships/

In my opinion, the post cards protesting will have no effect on anything that happens, and the teacher demotions/firings are gross forms of discrimination that simply shouldn't be tolerated. This is religious freedom crossing the line.

One last quote from the article above:

The European Commission is already considering whether British laws governing faith schools breach European education directives.

[HowlingSnail]

I go to a Catholic school, and have done for all of my education. However, I greatly dislike the Catholic Church because of the fact that it is so stuborn on issues such as these. Just today in an RE lesson I found myself cringing during our debate, simply for the total bullshit my teacher was coming out with. The topic was contraception, and one thing that came up was along these lines:

Question: Do you think that it's ok for a couple to use contraception in order to prevent an unwanted pregancy.
Me: Well of course it is. It's UNWANTED, so they'd do anything in their power to stop it.
Teacher: But maybe they shouldn't be having sex, since it's forbidden in the Catholic faith.

I didn't say anything at this point, mainly because I was too gobsmacked. However, what I was thinking was something along the lines of:
"Yes, but that's not what the question says. It says should they use contraception. They're having sex anyway, so they need to decide whether to use contraception, so stop trying to change the subject to make me sound wrong.

I realise it's not quite the same, but it does show the same level of stubborness that religious people can have simply to defend their beliefs.

[Flytta]

I'm not sure about the legitimacy of that news stuff but I can tell you the Catholic Church's official stance on contraception and homosexuality, of which many people, including Catholics, are ignorant of.

First off the Catholic Church is not anti-gay in any regard. The Catholic Church is fine with civil marriage for gay people but there cannot be a gay marriage in the Church because gay couples cannot complete one of the requirements: sex. For marriage in the Church you must be married in a church by a priest and THEN the couple must have sex, or else the marriage is not valid. Therefore if a couple does not have sex ever they are technically not married. Let sex be defined as the insertation of the penis into the vagina, which is how the Church defines it. Since a gay couple can't have sex in that regard they can't be married in the Church. The Church APPROVES civil gay marriage and homosexuality in general.

Short version: Only thing gay people can't do is get married IN THE CHURCH

Now for contraception:
According to the Catholic Church sex has two purposes: pleasure/way to show love and the possibility of reproduction. One cannot be present without the other. Things such as condoms prevent conception therefore they are not allowed. The Church does offer other methods in which the partners learn about the woman's times when she is least likely to be pregnant due to the nature of the menstrual period.

Let me know what you guys think...