c. 2004 Religion News Service

OTTAWA _ Religious and pro-family groups who oppose gay marriage tried to make the best of Thursday’s (Dec. 9) Supreme Court ruling that paves the way for Canada to become the third country to allow nationwide recognition of gay marriages.

The court’s opinion, in a clarification sought by Prime Minister Paul Martin’s Liberal government, said the federal government has exclusive authority to define marriage and said a proposed law to allow same-sex marriages was constitutional.

The court, however, also ruled that Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects religious groups from being forced to perform gay weddings against their beliefs.

The decision by the high court’s nine justices came 18 months after the federal government under former Prime Minister Jean Chretien abandoned its fight against gay marriage when courts in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec declared traditional marriage laws unconstitutional.

“Several centuries ago, it would have been understood that marriage be available only to opposite-sex couples,” the court said.

“The recognition of same-sex marriage in several Canadian jurisdictions as well as two European countries (Belgium and the Netherlands) belies the assertion that the same is true today.”

Groups opposed to same-sex marriage noted that the court’s non-binding opinion throws the issue squarely to Parliament, where evangelicals predicted defeat for members of parliament who vote to allow gay marriage.

“I believe people are going to stand up and say enough is enough is enough,” Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College in Toronto, told Canadian Press. “When you redefine marriage, you redefine it for everyone,” said McVety.

“Marriage has been hijacked today and I’m very sad.”

Parliament will likely take up early in the new year the proposed bill to allow gay weddings in city halls, courthouses and religious institutions that choose to perform them.

Martin’s Liberals hold a thin minority government, with 134 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons. But they should win the support of most or all of the left-leaning 19 New Democrat and 54 Bloc Quebecois members.

Religious groups, including the Catholic Civil Rights League and Focus on the Family (Canada), said the ultimate decision should lie with Canadian voters in a national referendum.

“Hard-working Canadians need to be heard. A national referendum provides the best opportunity of ensuring that all Canadians have opportunity to speak on this critical issue,” stated Terence Rolston, president of Focus on the Family (Canada).

“It is crucial that when the federal government introduces legislation to redefine marriage, that Canadians across the country are very clear in their support for traditional marriage.”

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said the church will “continue to celebrate the sacrament of marriage as the union of a man and a woman,” nonetheless said it was “pleased” that religious officials will not be compelled to perform marriages that violate church teaching.

Canada’s largest Protestant denomination, the United Church of Canada, welcomed the Supreme Court ruling, but Choice Okoro, the church’s program officer for human rights, said it also “unequivocally supports the right of religious communities to refuse to perform such marriages.”

Douglas Elliot, a lawyer representing the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, where some of the earliest same-sex ceremonies were performed, said the Supreme Court was clear that its reference deals with civil marriages, not religious rites. “This is the concern, the bogeyman, that has been trotted out by our opponents,” Elliot said.

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Anglicans in the Vancouver-based Diocese of New Westminster have already come under fire from conservative sister churches in Africa and Asia for allowing clergy to bless same-sex unions. The national church has so far resisted moves to adopt a nationwide policy allowing gay marriage.

Bruce Clemenger, president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, also noted that while the court has said Parliament may redefine marriage, “it has not said that it must redefine marriage to include same-sex couples.

“Marriage is an institution of deep significance to people of faith and others in society,” Clemenger said. “Therefore, the people of Canada need to have a voice in how marriage is understood and recognized in this country.”

Judaism, meanwhile, “upholds the sanctity and holiness of marriage, and at this time, we call upon all Canadians of good faith to re-engage themselves in the tradition of creating and sustaining strong and vital marriages and families,” said Rabbi Daniel Gottlieb, head of the Toronto Board of Rabbis.

However, Rabbi David Novak, a professor of Jewish studies at the University of Toronto and a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, called the Supreme Court’s decision “disgraceful.”

He said he’s “especially disturbed” by the fact that Canada’s justice minister, Irwin Cotler, is Jewish and “does not seem to be the least influenced by Jewish tradition, which indicates that marriage is between a man and a woman.”

KRE/PH END RNS