The South African Council of Churches (SACC) came under fire on Wednesday for announcing a public stance on same-sex marriages amid widespread division over the matter.
The SACC should have ”remained silent” and let individual churches state their positions,” said Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) spokesperson Isak Burger.
” … I believe the majority of churches are not in favour of same-sex marriages,” said Rhema Church’s pastor Ray McCauley, president of the International Federation of Christian Churches (IFCC).
Last month, SACC general secretary Eddie Makue called for the amendment of the Marriage Act to govern all forms of marriage, including same-sex unions, rather than the proposed separate legislation.
He made the call in an open letter to the chairperson of Parliament’s home affairs and justice portfolio committees.
While the letter did not have the status of a full SACC document, it was drafted in consultation with figures in several religious denominations.
”Our national history illustrates all too painfully the folly and injustice of creating multiple legal and administrative mechanisms to perform essentially the same functions for different categories of people,” wrote Makue.
”Separate institutions are rarely, if ever, equal. Their chances of achieving equal impact are further reduced if they are embedded in a society that remains afflicted by prejudice and discrimination.”
The AFM and IFCC were lodging complaints with the SACC over the letter, they said on Wednesday.
It did not represent the position of a large number of churches and gave a wrong signal to Parliament and the general public, they charged.
The AFM said it believed most Christians in South Africa opposed same-sex marriage.
”We are positive that the SACC statement does not reflect the majority view of the member churches and we are disappointed that the general secretary was not more sensitive to the position of the churches on this issue,” it said.
”… We think that it was unwise for the SACC to have ventured into the matter when there is not unanimous agreement on the same-sex marriage issue.”
The AFM — a member of the Marriage Alliance of South Africa — believed there should be a constitutional amendment entrenching the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
It has suggested that Parliament provide a legal framework catering for the legal requirements of gay partnerships.
The home affairs committee will soon hold public hearings on the Civil Union Bill — as opposed to the existing Marriage Act — recognising a same-sex ”civil partnership” or marriage, and a ”domestic partnership”.
The Constitutional Court has given Parliament until December 1 to correct what it ruled was the unconstitutional definition of marriage in the Act. — Sapa