Logical argument against homosexual marriage
Author: John Milbank is Research Professor of Politics, Religion and Ethics at the University of Nottingham , Director of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy The controversy surrounding gay marriage has now reached a fever pitch in countries like Australia and the UK , as governments have begun to move past debate and towards legislative change. While such intensity can have the benefit of clarifying just what is at stake - on both sides of the argument - it can also obscure some of the deeper, intrinsically related issues. So, in the UK, the arguments put forward by the coalition government in favour of legalising gay marriage have been, appropriately, at once liberal and conservative. In liberal terms it is seen as a matter of equal rights; in conservative terms a matter of promoting the good of faithful, long-term relationships for homosexual as well as heterosexual people. Those resisting the change - mostly, but not entirely, religious people - argue that the iss