Civil partnerships and what God has not joined together
It’s 20 years since the first same-sex civil partnerships took place in the UK. The Civil Partnership Act was a landmark moment in our cultural life, paving the way for so much that has happened since.
The Act, passed under Tony Blair’s Government, allowed homosexual couples to have their relationships legally recognised. It was a tool used to try to erase the differences between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships in the eyes of the public. Gay rights activists had long been campaigning for this, and it served its purpose as a stepping stone towards their greater goal: introducing same-sex marriage. Society’s views were quickly reshaped by the legal recognition of civil partnerships – so much so that, just eight years later, the Coalition Government felt it was on safe ground to usher in the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.
While there was significant opposition to that change, the Government was unaccountable. David Cameron and his ministers decided they wanted to redefine marriage, and they did so. But such actions do not come without consequences. With nothing obvious still to campaign for legislatively, gay rights groups set about promoting radical gender ideology. For years, the UK was in the grip of radical gender ideology, and only recently have many been waking up to its evils.
Going beyond the boundaries God has given in his Word inevitably leads to more and more arbitrary laws, and consequently approval — even celebration — of sinful relationships and behaviour.
‘Marriage-lite’
The Bible consistently prohibits any sexual activity outside marriage, including homosexual practice. To equate same-sex relationships to heterosexual marriage, as the Civil Partnership Act did, is a grievous sin for our nation.
When God created Adam and Eve, he gave them marriage (Genesis 2:18-25), and the Bible clearly teaches that the only context for sexual activity is within lifelong monogamous marriage (1 Corinthians 6:9). Marriage is also the proper context for raising children. Even secular research shows that marriage is head-and-shoulders above other types of human relationships in terms of the benefits it gives both to adults and to children. The role of the State should be to recognise one-man, one-woman marriage, and to promote its benefits.
Civil partnerships, even opposite-sex ones (which became available in 2019), completely dismantle the Western legal tradition whereby marriage is accorded special respect and protection. Heterosexual civil partnerships do not fill a gap in British culture. They don’t present a more noble arrangement than marriage: they are ‘marriage-lite’.
Marriage is God’s gift
Civil partnership gives all the legal and financial rights of marriage. But the two differ in key ways.
The commitment level needed to form a civil partnership is far less than marriage. No spoken vows are required, and the parties don’t undertake to commit to each other for life – one of the key criteria for a marriage bond. Sadly, marriages in England and Wales can now be severed on a ‘no-fault’ basis – making marriages no more binding than a mobile phone contract. But this clinical kind of dissolution is baked in to the way civil partnerships work.
The terminology of ‘dissolution’ does not carry the same force as ‘divorce’. Civil partnerships undermine the seriousness and weight that is inherent in marriage. Marriage between a man and a woman ultimately represents Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:21-33). It is a beautiful picture of the loving commitment that Christ displays to his people.
God has given marriage for the benefit of adults, children and society. We must pray that it is given its rightful place.