The Methodist church has become the largest religious denomination in the UK to allow same-sex marriages, in contrast to the Church of England. The change leaves me rather confused. The Levitical code seems unambiguous: “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13). The Bible configures homosexual acts as a capital offence, with “the men of the town’ usually happy to combine the roles of presecutor, judge, jury and executioner. There’s no need for legal niceties once the mob is roused to moral outrage.
Have the Methodists abandoned biblical teaching, or have they conveniently ‘forgotten’ a few problematic verses? Is it really possible to update the Good Book’s ‘timeless wisdom', after centuries of anti-gay prejudice, with a show of hands at a conference of clerics? One thing’s for sure: our religious representatives really are making it up as they go along.
The word is out that I’m having a pint or two with friends tonight, so the brewery is delivering more barrels…
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