March 4, 2012
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Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of the Catholic church in Scotland, also accused the coalition of trying to "redefine reality".
In an article for the Sunday Telegraph, he says the prime minister is a "passionate" advocate of the change and told his party two years ago he supported gay marriage "because I am a Conservative".
O'Brien wrote: "Since all the legal rights of marriage are already available to homosexual couples, it is clear that this proposal is not about rights, but rather is an attempt to redefine marriage for the whole of society at the behest of a small minority of activists.
"Same-sex marriage would eliminate entirely in law the basic idea of a mother and a father for every child. It would create a society which deliberately chooses to deprive a child of either a mother or a father.
"Other dangers exist. If marriage can be redefined so that it no longer means a man and a woman but two men or two women, why stop there? Why not allow three men or a woman and two men to constitute a marriage, if they pledge their fidelity to one another?"
The cardinal has added his voice to those of leading figures in the Coalition for Marriage, a group of bishops, politicians and lawyers opposed to the changes. The group's supporters include Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury. He urges people to respond to the government's consultation on the proposals by signing a petition in support of traditional marriage.
