Editorial

In defence of marriage

Peter Westmore

Contents - Feb 2014 - Buy a copy now Editorial: In defence of marriage - Peter Westmore Evangelii Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel: Pope Francis' challenge - Peter Westmore Victorian Inquiry: First report into clerical sex abuse released - Peter Westmore News: The Church Around the World Pope Francis repeats world peace plea Protecting the family: building the home - Carmen Pavia iWitness 2013 retreat: another young Catholics success story - Br Barry Coldrey Art: Interview with Tommy Canning: art in the service of truth The Holy Spirit: "Lord and Giver of Life" - Anne Lastman The transforming power of Eucharistic Adoration - Fr Joel Wallace Letters: Protecting the unborn - Bob Hogarth Letters: Religious instruction - Mrs Rowan Shann Letters: Spirit of Vatican II - Murray Cook Letters: Religious freedom - Keiron Long Letters: Climate propaganda Books: MANALIVE by G.K. Chesterton - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: THE IMITATION OF CHRIST by Thomas a Kempis - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: TO BONEGILLA FROM SOMEWHERE, by Wanda Skowronska - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Support: Fighting Fund ends on high note! Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflections: Australia Day: A time for thanks and commitment - Cardinal George Pell

The institution of marriage has existed for as long as civilisation – certainly longer than any government or organised religion – but over the past two millennia, Christianity has played a key role in defending marriage and the family, following the very clear statements which Jesus made in relation to the permanence of marriage and its essential character as the union of a man and a woman.

It is therefore not surprising that the erosion of Christianity in the Western world has been accompanied by attempts to redefine marriage. These have been most successful in the post-Christian countries of Western Europe.

After the High Court of Australia unanimously ruled last December that the ACT’s same-sex marriage law was invalid, its supporters declared that they would reintroduce legislation in federal parliament to change the law – despite the fact that both houses of Federal Parliament voted against it in September 2012.

After last year’s federal election, any vote in parliament is most unlikely to support a change in the law. Yet the media have repeated endlessly that as the UK and New Zealand recently legislated same-sex marriage, Australia must follow suit.

The media never tell us that there are now six countries in Europe which in recent years have defied both historical inevitability and political correctness by defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman: Poland, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Croatia. These countries, along with the overwhelming majority of those in Asia, Africa and the Americas, still uphold natural marriage between a man and a woman as the foundation of society. Australia is one of them.

Peter Westmore is publisher of AD2000.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 27 No 1 (February 2014), p. 2