Posted on 06/07/2012 3:18:08 PM PDT by NYer
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, June 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The nation of Denmark has voted to force churches in the established Evangelical Lutheran Church to perform same-sex “marriage” ceremonies inside their sanctuaries, although one-third of all the denomination’s priests say they will not participate in such rituals.
Danish parliament voted by an overwhelming 85-24 margin to compel churches to carry out unions for same-sex couples that are identical to heterosexual marriage celebrations.
The law takes effect June 15.
Since 1997, homosexuals have been able to get “married” in a blessing ceremony after the normal church service.
Under the new law, priests may opt out of performing the “wedding” service for theological reasons. However, a bishop must arrange for a replacement.
Click “like” if you want to defend true marriage.
The bill’s prime sponsor – Denmark’s church minister Manu Sareen, who is an agnostic – called the vote “historic.”
“I think it’s very important to give all members of the church the possibility to get married,” he said.
The Danish People’s Party opposed the legislation. “Marriage is as old as man himself, and you can’t change something as fundamental,” said Christian Langballe, the party’s church spokesperson.
Former politician Stig Elling said it was “positive” that “there are so many priests and bishops who are in favour of it.”
“We have moved forward,” he said. “It’s 2012.”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark has been Denmark’s official state church since 1849.
The passage of the Danish bill comes as pro-family activists the world over are warning that the homosexualist agenda is threatening the basic freedoms of religious believers all across the West.
Although the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from dictating church doctrine, religious institutions have already been subjected to government censure or private lawsuits if they refuse to allow homosexual couples to rent their facilities for a ceremony that deeply offends the church’s core doctrines of marriage and family.
The city of Hutchinson, Kansas, recently adopted a non-discrimination statute that would require houses of worship that rent their facilities to the public to allow same-sex “marriages” on the premises.
“If a church has a parish hall that they rent out to the general public, they could not discriminate against a gay couple who want to rent the building for a party” such as a same-sex ceremony or reception, according to a city FAQ about the ordinance.
Jacksonville, Florida, is currently considering a similar ordinance.
In January, Judge Solomon Metzger ruled a New Jersey Christian retreat house affiliated with the United Methodist Church could not refuse to rent its premises out for a homosexual “wedding.”
Ping!
“If a church has a parish hall that they rent out to the general public, they could not discriminate against a gay couple who want to rent the building for a party” such as a same-sex ceremony or reception, according to a city FAQ about the ordinance.
Catholic Ping
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I hope and pray that the status of the other two-thirds is: evaluating, prior to stating they will not either. Anything else is slouching, as it were, as Robert Bork puts it.
“Danish parliament voted by an overwhelming 85-24 margin to compel churches to carry out unions for same-sex couples that are identical to heterosexual marriage celebrations.”
Identical? :? How about the part where the minister says “I now pronounce you man and wife?” :?
Ping!
Here is the real agenda; to pervert the tenets and foundation of Christianity. The Left can go to Hell.
Are you white, male, and picked on? Become a homosexual and you will join the ranks of the most powerful and privileged “minority” in Western Civilization.
Just say you're “gay” and you'll have it made—haven't heard yet if any proof is required,
hunh wow did they force God to consummate them?
He got that right. As Europe free falls into a Dark Age unlike any in history.
Federal funds go to countless companies and institutions. The government dollars flow directly through subsidies or indirectly through tax credits (churches).
Just about every organization is vulnerable to the gay Nazis.
Where are our freedoms going?
" . . . although one-third of all the denomination’s priests say they will not participate in such rituals. "
If they're anything like the Lutherans I met during over thirty years of being a Lutheran, that's about the same percentage that actually believe in something other than "good clean work with no heavy lifting" in this country, too.
IMHO, it's actually a good thing since identifying and separating the wheat from the chaff is long overdue. This is such a public issue that when the worm turns those now going along with heresy and blasphemy won't be able to pretend they were never a party to such things.
The problem is that the Evangelical Lutheran Church is the established (state) church in Denmark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Denmark
The UK parliament could probably do the same to the Church of England. Non established churches in Denmark are not affected
One of the problems with an Established church is that it is at some level beholden to do what the government instructs. The “separation of church and state” (that pesky phrase folks who have never read the Constitution erroneously believe is in there) was meant to protect the free exercise of individual human conscience, NOT to take the Almighty (however one defines Him) out of the public square or chambers of government.
I wonder if this obsession by the Sodomites to get “married” was included as a meaning in the Good Lord’s statement to the effect that in the last days they shall “be marrying and giving in marriage.”
Psalms 12:8
I keep looking up for the big asteroid.
(Youtube: Asteroid Impact HD, set to Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig in the Sky.”)
Denmark’s church minister Manu Sareen, who is an agnostic
Really, this is what happened in Sweden when the state forced the Lutheran church to allow women to be ordained, much to the chagrin of then-bishop Bo Giertz. The Ev. Lutheran Church in a lot of European nations (Germany, Sweden, Denmark) made the mistake of getting in bed with the government long, long ago, and they are still paying the price.
** in the established Evangelical Lutheran Church**
Interesting quotes from the article:
“Fewer than 5%[citation needed] of church members attend services every week. However, the church is still widely used for traditional family ceremonies including christenings and confirmations. In the year 2008, 41% of weddings and 89% funerals were performed in the National Church,and 71% of adolescents in grade 7-8 were confirmed.
“According to a 2009 poll, 25 percent of Danes believe Jesus is the son of God, and 18 percent believe he is the saviour of the world.”
Coming to America if Obama gets re-elected. Bank on that.
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