This news may or may not be a surprise to Christchurch conservative evangelicals ... or anyone else reading here, for that matter.
PS Certain clergy of my acquaintance, once loud in their objections to using this place as a venue for our annual clergy conferences on the grounds, ahem, ahem, that alcohol may not be consumed there, so no happy hour for Anglican clerics, might also be wondering whether any other policies of ecclesiastical note have been or are about to be changed :)
That gave me a smile, what a laugh ... I can imagine the media, Alcohol Supply Requirement for Anglican's ...
ReplyDeleteOn the matter at hand. It is a tenuous one. I agree with the non-discrimination of businesses regarding supplying their services to one and all. However, I would question the appeal to the Human Rights Committee in this case as the venue obviously has since formation a special Christian character The declaration of Human Rights also declares that everybody has the right to freely practice their religion and I would imagine it was the religious nature of the foundation of this venue that both influenced it's decision re alcohol and conducting same sex weddings.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Let's send out an undercover operative to apply to have a same sex marriage at a centre with Muslim foundations and see if the outcome is the same... : )
Excellent point, Jean.
ReplyDeleteThere is a Muslim community centre just around the road from me (in a former church, as it happens) ...
If the report is correct, the James Joyce epiphany (as opposed to another type) is cringe material for all sides.
ReplyDeleteNick
Hugo Rahner had an audience with the Pope. After a great deal of discussion, the Pope asked him for his opinion of the world's greatest theologian.
ReplyDeleteHugo squirmed, looked away, and then answered. "I suppose, Your Holiness, that I would have to say that the world's greatest theologian is my brother, Karl."
The Pope's eyes widened. He stood straight up in his chair and exclaimed, "Your brother is KARL BARTH!?"
Bowman Walton
HT to Faith and Theology < Eclectic Orthodoxy < PostBarthian.
Well Bowman; Hugo, as they say, would first have to translate the works of his brother into German for them to be intelligible enough to make an evaluation ...!
ReplyDelete"We've been on a journey with this one, and we've got there... It took a while," Alridge said.
ReplyDelete"It's more than a legal issue, we think it's the right thing to do. We'd like to welcome [the couple who applied], we'd like to tell them ourselves." - 'Living Springs' manager -
Well, Peter, that's a plain enough statement. Peraps, though, it might deter some of the more conservative clergy of our diocese to avoid the next clergy conference at this venue. It might be less threatening to hold it in a public resort hotel - with temptation in reach of the participants but no compulsion to give way to it.
Does remind me a little bit of what St. Paul might think of applying the Corban - especially about liquor - even though Jesus did, on one celebrated occasion 'turn water into wine' - not the other way round. Oh yes, and that was a a Wedding, too.