{"id":7464,"date":"2014-04-23T19:10:05","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T18:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=7464"},"modified":"2014-04-23T19:11:23","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T18:11:23","slug":"gay-clergyman-defies-church-marrying-long-time-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/gay-clergyman-defies-church-marrying-long-time-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Clergyman Defies Church by “Marrying” Long-time Partner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Canon-Jeremy-Pemberton\"<\/a>
Jeremy Pemberton, left, and his long-time partner Laurence Cunnington, right, were married on Saturday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canon Jeremy Pemberton became the first gay priest to defy the Church of England\u2019s ban on same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pemberton was aware of the Church of England\u2019s disapproval, but proceeded to “marry” his long-time partner<\/strong><\/a> Laurence Cunnington earlier this month in front of friends and family.<\/p>\n

Pemberton told The Mail on Sunday<\/em>: \u201cI love this man and I want to be married to him. That\u2019s what I want. It is the same as anyone who wants to get married.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pemberton could face disciplinary action from the church.<\/p>\n

Last month same-sex “marriages” were legalized in England and Wales, but the Church of England banned<\/strong><\/a> gay marriage for its clergy members because it goes against the church\u2019s teaching that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Clergymen are not able to officiate at gay wedding ceremonies or to bless same-sex unions in church.<\/p>\n

Pemberton told the church of his plans to marry before he carried out his wedding. The bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev Christopher Lowson, was informed by Pemberton<\/strong><\/a> himself that Pemberton planned to marry Cunnington. Lowson said that he and Pemberton had a meeting before the “marriage” took place, in which Lowson \u201cexplained the guidelines of the House of Bishops.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, Lowson explained that the Church of England will shortly begin discussing how it will respond to same-sex “marriage”.<\/p>\n

This “marriage” does not only affect people in the UK. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby suggested that by tolerating same-sex “marriage” within the church, Christians could be endangering the lives of other Christians in Africa.<\/p>\n

Welby has personally seen a mass grave<\/strong><\/a> full of African Christians in Nigeria who were murdered because the citizens of Nigeria were afraid that Christians will force them to become homosexuals. In a country where homosexual acts are punishable with up to a 15-year prison sentence<\/strong><\/a>, the impact of a gay marriage within the church affects African Christians more severely than it does Christians in the UK.<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/a>
Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, has warned about the worldwide effect of the church accepting gay ‘marriage’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pemberton, a divorced father of five and former parish priest, tweeted<\/strong> <\/a>after the wedding ceremony: \u201cThank you to all well-wishers. Nay-Sayers: we can talk another time maybe? Signing off for now\u2014my husband gets my time.\u201d<\/p>\n

One author called this “marriage” a \u201ctest of strength<\/strong><\/a>\u201d between liberals and conservatives in the Church of England.<\/p>\n

All eyes are now on the church to see how it will respond. If the Church of England holds true to its traditional teaching on homosexual marriage, it will be holding true to the God\u2019s teaching in the Bible but could face persecution through employment laws (Matthew 5:11-12).<\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n