I Missed Something, Didn't I?

Cardinal Marc Ouellet thinks that religious freedom in Canada will be threatened by same-sex marriage. I'm not quite sure if I understand his logic, though. When the same-sex marriage bill passes 1. No one will force anyone who thinks same-sex marriage is wrong to marry a partner of the same sex. 2. Clergymen of the various churches that frown upon homosexuality do not have to perform same-sex marriages and, in fact, will still be able to teach that homosexuality is wrong.

That isn't enough for Ouellet, however. He wants to make sure that clergy don't feel pressure from the outside world to continue spreading their beliefs.

There's a climate taking shape where we don't dare say what we think anymore or we don't dare teach. Even in the pulpit we feel threatened in teaching the church's sexual morality. We even feel threatened. That's also part of religious freedom

Organized religion, especially the larger more conservative ones have always been out of step with secular society. I don't see why secular society should bend on this one issue. After all, once again, no one is going to force any organized religion to condone same-sex marriage.

As for the gay couples arriving at a Catholic church to have their children baptized and expecting to be recognized as parents, the church still has a right to turn them away. But they're still going to be showing up because there will always be pressure from within and from below to reform institutions. That's due to human nature, not to bill C-38. Just as the Catholic Church has been dealing with the woman-equality issue for the past while, so it will have to deal with gay issue for the next while.