Church takes on gay marriages
2005-04-13 10:06
Neels Jackson
Pretoria - Three of the country's most prominent church leaders have taken up the battle against the legalisation of gay marriages.
Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of the Roman Catholic Church, reverend Moss Ntlha of the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa and doctor Michael Cassidy, co-chairperson of the South African Christian Leadership Assembly (Sacla) are co-chairpersons of the newly formed Marriage Alliance of South Africa.
They applied to be allowed as friends of the court when the Constitutional Court decides on gay marriages next month.
At the end of last year, the Appeal Court extended the definition of a marriage to include same-sex marriages. However, the department of home affairs has filed an application against the decision at the Constitutional Court.
6 000-year-old tradition
The alliance wants to provide input in favour of maintaining the traditional Christian view of marriage.
Cassidy requested the support of Pretoria church leaders to make the voices heard in the case. The Christian Lawyers Association is also involved in the alliance's effort.
Cassidy told church leaders that God had sanctioned monogamous, heterosexual marriages.
The alliance wants to protect this view of marriage, which has been supported by the Judeo-Christian tradition for the past 6 000 years.
He said this was one of the cornerstones of a healthy society.
Cassidy said changing the concept of marriage would boil down to harmful social manipulation, as was the case under apartheid. He said the church should not allow it.
Cassidy said he didn't want to act mercenary, but the alliance needed R1.25m for its campaign. He asked church leaders to help in this regard.
- Beeld