I have said this before in another thread, but I don't think you were around at that time lily, so sorry if you were and I'm repeating myself...

When I married my husband, we could not marry in a synagogue because he was not a Jew. I didn't feel marginalised, victimised or any less Jewish because of it. I understand that it is a rule of my religion. It didn't occur to me that I should demand an Act of Parliament to force Judaism to change their rules. I do agree that if gay couples want to marry then they should absolutely have the right to marry in a civil ceremony the same as heterosexuals. But I don't agree that religions should be forced to marry them if it goes against their doctrine. If some churches choose to, then that is their own decision and not one that I feel should be made compulsory.

Good point... and no I haven't read that story in another thread.

They probably shouldn't be made to do it by law, but my hope is that in the future they'll want to do it.

Could someone clarify if this is correct... Wasn't there a time when you couldn't marry in a church if you'd already been married then divorced? If so, has that changed with the times?

Perhaps attitudes towards homosexuality within Christianity is something that'll change over time as well.

I don't know the "ins and outs" of that but I believe the Roman Catholic church is still against it.

Yes, the RC's are against it.

That's the main reason the Church of England was created by Henry the 8th.

Are the RCs still against it?

Yeah.

CofE isn't exactly all that keen on it either but it tends to be more lenient and sympathise with people going through marital hardships.

Incidentally, I'm pretty sure CofE allows divorce in certain circumstances, whereas the R.C. church is completely against it. Which is quite ironic considering Jesus actually allowed divorce in the case of adultery in the Bible :S

Yes, you can't get married in a Catholic Church if you've been divorced. My mom is getting remarried next year and she has to have a civil ceremony

What I was going to post, pretty much.

The Bible and the entire umbrella of Christian faith - like most religious and spiritual traditions - is a wide and complicated smorgasbord of alternating views held roughly together by a general theme and set of basic conventions.

It's how religions work. They build up, evolve - devolve even - and branch off. This idea that it is only the ultra dogmatic Bible bashers who qualify for their own faith is facetious and absurd. They themselves pick and choose bits of The Bible.

And what of The Bible? It's not all that was written. Plenty was edited out or never included to begin with. Lost gospels and gnostic traditions galore - available at the click of a mouse.

Most peoples spirituality is generally dependent on faith in a cherry picked set of beliefs the adherent has felt best represents their own world view. So what? It's how it works.

I don't believe any of it myself but I certainly know there is no rigidly defined set of rules as to how it should work.

The whole point of following a religion was accepting that certain rules and provisos are set in stone? I don't follow a faith as they have these, why would anyone want to.
Changing and 'evolving' can't happen if you wish to follow a faith do so, If you wish to live your life another way fine start a new faith, it worked for henry...,

Kind of simplistic to say that Henry VIII just set up the CofE so he could get a divorce, there was the small matter of the Reformation that had been sweeping across Europe, Christians all over the West had been breaking with the Catholic Church

So the alternative was to rewrite the bible?

Who rewrote the Bible?

JK Rowling. Haven't you read it?

I literally can't understand what you are saying here. Is English your second language?

Yes they can.

Like this.

There are dozens of well known variations and break offs of the Christian faith and thousands of other lesser known, whacked out variations that put more of less emphasis on various parts of the belief structure. Some schools of thought accept doctrines that others don't.

There is no universally correct path that has 'THIS IS THE ONE' emblazoned in a neon arrow that points in the doors of the church.

Hence I don't know why people at the top of this thread were mentioning that you can't pick and match your faith. Yes you can. It's how virtually every one was formed. There is no right, correct way to interpret the Bible. Only those who believe their way is the right, correct way.

It's impossible to follow down to the bone without running into a gas shower of contradictions.

No English is not my second language.
Are you having trouble understanding me, would you like me to dumb down my point?....
If a church won't accept to carry out your marriage find one who will.

Heaven forbid. No ... just express it clearer. Sometimes it's like trying to do an eye test through a whiskey bottle.

Put the bottle down stu it may help.

I would if my coke dealer picked up the phone.

King James :joker:

Yes and in the meantime these" Christian" folk get away with blatant discrimination.WHY/

This still applies in many C of E churches and is not allowed in catholic establishments as they do not allow or acknowledge divorce.You would be a bigamist in their eyes. Couldn't make it up could you?

Because the bible was written before the discrimination laws?...
If you don't like it don't follow it simples...
Everyone would be much happier if they didn't as far as I can see.

kizzy why are all your post's double?

I'm posting from a 3ds, it's quite good but sometimes duplicates the post.
I delete them when I notice them.

Because they are the rules of their religion. Some religions will not marry people outside that particular faith, some religions will not marry divorced people... Do you suggest that divorced heterosexuals are being disciminated against?