Redefining marriage is not being driven by the people, it is being pushed by a liberal elite who want to feel superior over the rest of us, a commentator says.
Brendan O’Neill says homosexual marriage is a tool of the elite – a litmus test of cosmopolitan values – rather than a demand of the people.
It is a way for its backers to “look down with undiluted snobbery” on people who believe marriage should be between a man and a woman, he writes.
Bizarre
He says the push for same-sex marriage isn’t coming from popular support, or even a desire for homosexuals to actually get married.
It is driven by a political engine that wants to claim superiority over the masses, particularly over religious people.
He says the emptying out of political debate is “bizarre”, and shows that its backers are chasing a “moral buzz, a rush of superiority”.
No redefinition
His remarks come as a new poll shows that 70 per cent of people do not want marriage to be redefined.
And grassroots organisation Coalition for Marriage has also seen over 115,000 people sign its petition opposing same-sex marriage.
Earlier this week it emerged that five million Roman Catholics are to be urged by Church leaders to resist plans to redefine marriage.
Radical
Archbishop Vincent Nichols – the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales – has written a letter to be read out in 2,500 churches this weekend.
The letter, co-signed by the Archbishop of Southwark, says redefining marriage would be a “profoundly radical step” that would “transform society’s understanding of the purpose of marriage”.
Last week Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said marriage should not be redefined in law.