Church of England accused of scaremongering over gay marriage

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, said a poll showed 80-85% of people in the UK under 50 backed gay marriages. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

The Church of England was accused of carrying out a "masterclass in melodramatic scaremongering" as it delivered an uncompromising warning to the government against pressing ahead with a controversial proposal to legalise gay marriage.

Introducing same-sex marriage could lead to the church being forced out of its role of conducting weddings on behalf of the state, the CofE claimed in a potentially explosive submission in response to the government's consultation on gay marriage, which closes on Thursday.

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, which campaigns for gay rights, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Many bishops in the Church of England today will be rather pleased because once again they are not talking about global poverty or the HIV pandemic - they are talking about the subject that obsesses them, and that is sex.

"I have not come across such a masterclass in melodramatic scaremongering – that somehow this is the biggest upheaval since the sacking of the monasteries – since as a journalist myself a decade ago I was summoned to a government briefing to be told about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

He said Stonewall would be publishing its major five-yearly polling of public attitudes on Tuesday, showing that between 80-85% of people in the UK under the age of 50 support extending the legal form of marriage to gay people – and three in five - 60% of people of faith in modern Britain – say gay people should be able to get married.

The church submission's warning of a potential clash between canon law – that marriage is between a man and a woman – and parliament is likely to put pressure on the prime minister, David Cameron, who has spoken out in support of gay marriage and already come under fire from supporters of the proposals for allowing a free vote among Tory MPs.

In a 13-page submission, the church says it cannot support the proposal to enable all couples, regardless of their gender, to have a civil marriage ceremony.

"Such a move would alter the intrinsic nature of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, as enshrined in human institutions throughout history," it says.

"Marriage benefits society in many ways, not only by promoting mutuality and fidelity, but also by acknowledging an underlying biological complementarity which, for many, includes the possibility of procreation."

The Rt Rev Tim Stevens, bishop of Leicester, speaking on the same programme, conceded there were "some grounds" for saying the Church of England obsesses about sex.

"I rather sympathise with that statement but I don't think this is anything to do with obsessing about sex," he said.

"I think this is the church trying to uphold our traditional teachings and understanding about marriage and trying to avoid a sudden and rapid redefinition of marriage for everybody at a time when many marriages are in difficulties and where it is very unlikely that, within just a few weeks, a universally acceptable new definition of a fundamental social institution can emerge."

The bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Steven Croft, said the government proposals represented a fundamental change to a very important social institution.

"Whilst this is being presented as a kind of minor extension to what marriage means, actually, from the point of view of the church and of society, it is a really, really fundamental change to an institution which has been at the core of our society for hundreds of years and which for the church is not a matter of social convention but of Christian doctrine and teaching," he told BBC Breakfast.

"One in four marriages in England are performed by the Church of England and that proportion is rising at the moment.

"In every marriage service the priest begins the service by spelling out what marriage is - a union between one man and one woman with the intention of it being lifelong.

"So it is really important to register back to the government that this is not a minor change, this is a fundamental change to a very, very important social institution."

The controversy comes at a particularly delicate time for the church, which is in the middle of a process that will choose a new archbishop of Canterbury later this year to replace Dr Rowan Williams.

Internal debates on gay rights have been particularly heated during his tenure as he struggled to balance the CofE's own factions at the same time as holding together the disparate worldwide Anglican communion of 80 million members.

The church's submission warns that despite ministerial assurances that churches would not have to conduct gay marriages, it would be "very doubtful" whether limiting same-sex couples to non-religious ceremonies would withstand a challenge at the European court of human rights.

This could make it impossible for the CofE to continue its role conducting marriages on behalf of the state, it warned.

Under the current law, anyone who is resident in England has a legal right to marry in his or her CofE parish church irrespective of religious affiliation. Around a quarter of weddings in England take place in CofE churches.

The church position as set out in the submission, which notes the CofE's "unique position" in relation to the performing of marriage ceremonies, potentially raises the prospect of the biggest rupture between the state and the Church of England since it became the established church 500 years ago.

It claims the proposals would redefine institution of marriage in English law, warning: "At the very least that raises new and as yet unexplored questions about the implications for the current duties which English law imposes on clergy of the established church."

Complaining that several major elements of the government's proposals had not been thought through and were not legally sound, the church said introducing gay marriage could also lead to challenges to civil partnership law, as removing the concept of gender from marriage while leaving it in place for civil partnerships would be unlikely to be "legally sustainable".

A Home Office spokesman said: "The purpose of the equal civil marriage consultation is to enable us to listen to all views, including those of all religions.

"Marriage is one of the most important institutions we have. It binds us together, it brings stability, and it makes this country stronger. We have been clear that no religious organisation will be forced to conduct same-sex marriages as a result of our proposals.

"We welcome the Church of England's response and we will be carefully considering all points of view before publishing the outcome of the consultation later in the year."