Gay marriage and Anglican fudge

From Spain, news that confirms the experience of other countries: the legalization of same-sex marriages has not exactly been followed by a mass stampede to the registry offices:-

'Since the law took effect last July 3, until May 31, only 1,275 same-sex marriages took place, reported the Madrid daily newspaper ABC last Saturday.

'Comparatively, that would add up to a mere 0.6% of the 209,125 marriages contracted in Spain during 2005.'

(from Canon Kendall Harmon)

When you bear in mind that this figure must include a backlog of couples who have been waiting for years for the chance to marry, the lack of enthusiasm becomes even more striking.

Of course this is not necessarily any reflection on the quality of the relationships of those who have tied the knot (though I've seen some interesting data on this, which I may get round to writing up eventually). But as an Anglican I do feel that the Anglican Communion's apparent determination to hit the self-destruct button becomes all the more tragic when the issue precipitating it turns out, in practice, to involve such a very small group of people. Have the reserves of good old-fashioned Anglican fudge really been exhausted?

Men of Steel

Good old Jon Steelin, he never disappoints. Today he’s on about the elections in Poland. Well, yes, precisely: it’s the elections, stupid. Country’s gone to pot since it started on this bourgeois ‘democracy’ nonsense. Some of us remember the days when it was run by people sensitive and caring enough to know what the toiling masses wanted without having to ask them, eh Jon? But fortunately not all is lost. If Condi Rice describes Belorus as the last dictatorship in Europe, you won’t need Jon or me to tell you that it’s really an earthly paradise, ‘strong state’ and all. If the trains don’t quite run on time yet they jolly soon will do. And Poland could be next, if Jon's hopes that the new President will turn out to be a bit of a fascist are fulfilled.

A soul brother for the Man of Steel is Frank Griswold, Presiding Bishop of the American Episcopal Church. Some might think there could be no clearer illustration of what was at stake in the Cold War than the two Koreas. But not the P.B., who excels himself by warning us against ‘demonization’ of the Democratic People’s Republic of Hell – sorry, I mean Korea…

Have a nice weekend, all you reactionary scumbags out there.

Salman Rushdie

Sniping at Salman Rushdie in the name of pluralism is definitely not the way to Mr Grumpy's heart. Especially if the gentleman advising him to stick to writing novels is a vicar moonlighting as a columnist. So I hope the crop of letters in today's Guardian will give the Rev. Giles Fraser something to think about. If not I might just, in my capacity as an Ayatollah of Muscular Liberalism, have to issue a fatwa against the apostate dog.