London, UK - The Quakers sanctioned gay marriages yesterday and called on the Government to give same-sex couples who marry in their ceremonies the same standing as heterosexual people.
Other Christian churches and religious denominations have approved blessings for same-sex civil partnerships but the Quakers are Britain’s first mainstream religious group to approve marriages for homosexuals.
It is a decision that will be welcomed by gay and lesbian Christian groups worldwide as a breakthrough in what they regard as a campaign for justice and equality.
At their annual gathering in York this week more than 1,600 Quakers agreed “to treat same-sex, committed relationships in the same way as opposite-sex marriages, reaffirming our central insight that marriage is the Lord’s work and we are but witnesses”.
The next edition of Quaker Faith and Practice, their “book of Christian discipline”, will be revised “so that same-sex marriages can be prepared, celebrated, witnessed, recorded and reported to the State, as opposite-sex marriages are”.
Quakers’ meetings, known as Meetings for Sufferings, are also to be urged to engage with the Government to seek a change in the relevant laws “so that same-sex marriages notified in this way can be recognised as legally valid, without further process, in the same way as opposite-sex marriages celebrated in our meetings”.
But they also decided that “the question of legal recognition by the State was secondary” and that they would not be urging Quaker registrars to break the law and marry gay couples.
The annual gathering approved the statement: “We will not at this time require our registering officers to act contrary to the law but understand that the law does not preclude them from playing a central role in the celebration and recording of same-sex marriages.”
The Government allows couples to register their civil partnerships but stops short of counting them as married, even though the civil ceremony gives them almost exactly the same rights in law over property, pension and inheritance.
Quakers, officially the Religious Society of Friends, have acknowledged same-sex partnerships since the 1960s. About 20 Quaker meetings have held celebrations of same-sex commitments since the 1990s.
The Junior Yearly Meeting, representing teenage Quakers, had already agreed earlier this week that “to deny the spiritual aspect of marriage to committed couples, based on their sexuality, is unjust”.
Michael Hutchinson, of Quakers in Britain, said: “We recognise that many homosexual people play a full part in the life of the Society of Friends. Many of our meetings have told us that there are homosexual couples who consider themselves to be married and believe this is as much a testimony of divine grace as a heterosexual marriage. They miss the public recognition of this in a religious ceremony.
“We hope our discussions this week will help us recognise, in love, the friend whose experience is not our own and will lead us forward in exploring what true equality means.”
The issue of same-sex blessings has divided other denominations. The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, said recently that homosexuals should “repent and be changed”. Methodist ministers are not permitted to bless same-sex partnerships but may say prayers with a couple privately. The Liberal Jewish movement was the first religious group to publish authorised blessings for same-sex partners.
The issue has brought the Anglican Communion to the brink of schism, after the US Episcopal Church voted this month to proceed with authorising same-sex blessings. The Church of England accepts that people have gay relationships and allows clergy to register their civil partnerships but states that these must be celibate.
The official stance of the Roman Catholic Church, as stated in the Catechism, remains that homosexuality is “intrinsically disordered”. Before becoming pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that homosexuality was an “intrinsic moral evil”.
Centuries of being Friends
•The Quakers were founded in England in the 1600s by George Fox. They are officially the Religious Society of Friends but, according to Fox, the term Quaker was coined in 1650 by Justice Bennet, of Derby, who was trying him. Fox wrote in his journal that Bennet “was the first that called us Quakers, because I bade them tremble at the word of the Lord”. Others suggested that Quakers chose the term to reflect their feeling when moved to speak in meetings
•There are about 19,000 Quakers in Britain and 340,000 worldwide
•The Quakers were founded in opposition to the traditional Churches, whose ritualistic, hierarchical structure, they felt, got in the way of a direct relationship with God
•The central concept is “that of God in everyone”. Quakers are generally in agreement that they should have a direct, individual relationship with God and should follow Christian principles such as peace and forgiveness
•Worship is in weekly meetings where Friends sit in meditation for an hour, during which anyone can speak at any point
•The Quakers were socially and politically radical in the 17th and early 18th centuries and campaigned against slavery, for pacifism and religious tolerance and argued against discrimination by social class, wealth, gender or race
•Famous Quakers have included the chocolate manufacturers Joseph Rowntree and George Cadbury and the actor James Dean