Swedish PM: Priests unwilling to ‘marry’ same-sex couples should ‘do something else’


Priests in the Church of Sweden need to perform same-sex "marriages" or find another job, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven told Swedish outlet Kyrkans Tidning.
He compared priests unwilling to perform same-sex "weddings" with midwives unwilling to participate in abortions. A Swedish high court recently ruled against a midwife who has fought for years to not be forced to help with abortions. The midwife, Ellinor Grimmark, is taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights. 
The Social Democrat leader said his party is working to ensure all Church of Sweden priests will "marry" same-sex couples.
"I see parallels to the midwife who refuses to perform abortions," said Löfven. "If you work as a midwife, [you] must be able to perform abortions, otherwise you have to do something else. It is the same for priests" who do not want to conduct same-sex weddings.
"The church as an open democratic church is an organization that stands for human equality," he said. "The church will be an interesting arena for social democracy [for an] indefinite time."
The Church of Sweden allows female clergy. The lesbian bishop of Stockholm, who is "married" to another woman priest, has been criticized for suggesting a church should replace its crosses with Muslim symbols.
Same-sex "marriage" has been legal in Sweden since 2009, the same year the Church of Sweden began allowing it. Around half of the Church of Sweden bishops signed a letter condemning the introduction of same-sex "marriage" into the church.
Sweden describes itself as "one of the most gay-friendly countries in the world."
CBN and SVT.se reported that Löfven thinks willingness to participate in same-sex "weddings" should be a requirement for ordination.

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