‘SCOTLAND FOR MARRIAGE’ LAUNCH OUTSIDE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT BUILDING, EDINBURGH
SPEECH BY CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN
WEDNESDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2011 : ST ANDREW’S DAY
As we near the end of the Scottish Government’s 14-week consultation on same sex marriage, we should take a moment to congratulate the tens of thousands of Scots who have taken the time to register their opposition to this proposal. There is no doubt whatsoever that when the responses are added up those who do not want marriage to be redefined will greatly outnumber those who do. I hope and trust that the Scottish `Government will listen to this ‘voice of the people’.
On the surface the proposal to redefine marriage may seem to some to be an innocuous proposition. But we must be clear that redefining marriage will have huge implications for what is taught in our schools and for wider society.
But can we simply redefine terms at a whim? Can a word whose meaning has been clearly understood in every society throughout history suddenly be changed to mean something else? Of course it can’t, yet when Scotland’s politicians suggest that they might jettison the established understanding of marriage and subvert the meaning set out in Article 16 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights as a relationship between men and women, the response from the political world, seemed meek and muted.
Recent weeks however have shown that the response from the people of Scotland is anything but. This proposal represents a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right. Scotland’s Catholic Bishops from the outset undertook to strenuously oppose these proposals and I am delighted to be here with you today in my capacity as President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. I know that my brother bishops are thinking and saying the same as myself. In fact, this very day, Archbishop Mario Conti, President of our Bishops’ Conference’s Commission on Christian Doctrine and Unity is preaching in line with myself in his Cathedral in Glasgow, while I later on this morning will similarly preach in my Cathedral in Edinburgh.
There is no doubt that as a society we have become blasé about the importance of marriage as a stabilising influence and less inclined to prize it as a worthwhile institution. It has certainly been damaged and undermined over the course of a generation, yet marriage has always existed in order to bring men and women together so that the children born of those unions will have a mother and a father.
As an institution, marriage long predates the existence of any state or government. It was not created by government and should not be changed by them. Instead, recognising the innumerable benefits which marriage brings to society they should act to protect and uphold it not attack or dismantle it.
At the heart of this debate however there is one perspective which seems to be completely lost or ignored, it is the point of view of the child. All children deserve to begin life with a mother and father, the evidence in favour of the stability and well being which this provides is overwhelming and unequivocal.
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights is crystal clear when it says that marriage is a right which applies to men and women, it goes on to state, that “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” This universal truth is so self-evident that it shouldn’t need to be repeated.
If the Scottish Government attempt to demolish a universally recognised human right, they will have forfeited the trust which the nation, including people of all faiths and none, have placed in them and their intolerance will shame Scotland in the eyes of the world.
We will continue to preserve, protect and defend the institution of marriage and urge everyone in our country to unite in support of “Scotland For Marriage!”