Submissions on the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill
A couple of weeks ago I was part of two groups who made a submission to the Government
Administration Committee in support of the Marriage
(Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill.
Here is one of those submissions
Submissions on the Marriage
(Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill
To the Government
Administration Committee
by
Individual members
of the Anglican Parish of Gate Pa, Tauranga
**************
I Summary of
Submission
The individuals who have signed this submission, all
committed Christians, support the Bill.
II The Parish
of Gate Pa
The Parish of Gate Pa is set in the Bay of Plenty. The
parish has one church, St George’s, which sits on the hill-site of the Battle
of Gate Pa which was fought in 1864. There are 189 people on the parish roll,
including children.
The Battle of Gate Pa was one of the most significant
in the whole colonial period, and is the only battlefield in a New Zealand
urban area. It is a nationally significant site.
The battles of Gate Pa and Te Ranga (which was fought
on 21 June 1864) led to the confiscation of large areas of land and the
beginning of the city of Tauranga. Before the battles, the Tauranga area had a
large Maori population and a thriving Church Missionary Society mission station.
The missionaries were inevitably drawn into the conflict and there are still sensitivities
around the role and purpose of the mission, the battle, the subsequent land
confiscations and the place of the Anglican Church in that process.
St George’s was built in 1900 as a memorial church for
the soldiers and sailors who lost their lives in the battles. Since then it has
become a place of reconciliation for both races and a venue and focal point for
discussion about the New Zealand colonial war period. It is often used for
lectures, forums and discussions, school and tourist visits, documentaries,
religious observances and the annual commemoration of the battle.
The church building contains items that signify a Christian
reconciliation and partnership between Maori and Pakeha people.
This theme of reconciliation has grown over the years
to become an integral part of our faith and interaction with the wider
community; to incorporate all people, and to live out God’s profound love of
all people, irrespective of race, age, gender and sexual orientation.
This
submission is not made by the parish as a whole. We are all individuals who are
also members of this parish. Nevertheless, the position that we signatories take
in support of the Bill rests upon our understanding of the Christian and
Anglican way. We are aware that some parishioners and some Christians do not
agree with our position.
III The
basis of our support for the Bill
The principal aim of our diocese and of our parish is to
“know Jesus and to make Jesus known”. The Jesus we meet in the gospels worked
hard to break down the barriers that kept people from being part of God’s
community. He spent his time with those on the very edge of his society
including; widows, divorced women, prostitutes, the sick, the poor, Gentiles
and Samaritans. To all of these he offered God’s life-giving love. He embraced
them and included them in God’s reign. He challenged all of those who used the
Mosaic Law to exclude people who were different from them, and who used it to
proclaim a God who was only interested in the, so called, moral elite. He
preached and lived reconciliation between God and all people, and between all types
of people. It is this Jesus who we seek to follow. Anglican theology is, at its
heart, incarnational. That means we believe the crucified and risen Christ
continues to reconcile all people to God and to each other. We continue to meet this Jesus among those
who are marginalised today, who are declared to be not good enough. This
includes gay and lesbian people.
For these and other reasons, we believe that a 21st
century expression of Anglican ideals must be inclusive and must encompass all
people, no matter what their sexual orientation or gender identity is. Further,
we see no reason not to expect similar values to be expressed in the laws of
the land. In this regard, we endorse the anti-discrimination rules found in the Human Rights Act 1993 and the
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, in both of which, discrimination on the
grounds of sexual orientation is illegal.
This leads us inevitably to a non-discriminatory approach to marriage.
The legal concept of marriage is, in essence, civil not
religious, even though the churches are given a privileged status with respect
to the recognition of marriage celebrants. We acknowledge that some church-people
do not want to recognise or take part in a religious marriage ceremony between same-sex
couples. However, in our view, the proposed law does not force a change to any
religious concept of marriage, but only to the civil concept. Nor ought the
proposed law change compel clergy, who are opposed to marriages between same-sex
couples, to celebrate them. On the
other hand, the Bill gives those church-people who wish to recognise religious
marriage between same-sex couples the legal opportunity to do so.
We therefore support the Amendment Bill.
Te pai me te rangimārie (peace and all good)
Rev. John Hebenton TSSF
Vicar
Anglican Parish of Gate Pa
St. Georges Church
1 Church St, Tauranga
Aotearoa - New Zealand
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