智慧人生篇章 第11期:同性戀婚姻之爭(zhēng)(1)

The debate on gay marriage is making meuncomfortable. Columnists tell me breezily that Ishould welcome it because of equality. Catholic andAnglican Bishops say I should shun it because itundermines one of the fundamental building blocksof society. Now my instincts are liberal. I think theintroduction of civil partnerships was a greatachievement and I don't like the tone of recentchurch pronouncements.But there is an issue herewhich is in danger of being trivialised on both sides.The issue is the nature of marriage. Is it aconvention or a sacrament? If it is a convention of course it can be redefined. But if asacrament this is not so easy. The point about sacraments is that they can't be made up. Theywork because they are a precise configuration of the material and the spiritual. When Icelebrate Holy Communion I need bread and wine. Tea and biscuits won't do because theydon't carry the memory of what this sacrament points to, which is the bread and wine thatJesus declared to be his body and blood. If marriage is a sacrament it needs male and femalebecause the inner memory of marriage goes back to the Garden of Eden - it is about procreativesex, the possibility of children, born from the bodies of both parents. It is all very earthy andconcrete and physical.

關(guān)于同性戀婚姻的爭(zhēng)論讓我很不安。專(zhuān)欄作家們輕快的告訴我，基于平等原則，我應(yīng)該坦然接受。天主教和國(guó)教主教們則說(shuō)，我應(yīng)該斷然回絕，因?yàn)檫@動(dòng)搖了最根本的社會(huì)基石。我很寬容。我認(rèn)為人與人的伙伴關(guān)系是文明的一大進(jìn)步，而且我不怎么喜歡最近教會(huì)申明展現(xiàn)的那種態(tài)度。但有個(gè)可能被雙方都忽視了問(wèn)題：婚姻的本質(zhì)，是約定俗成還是基督圣禮?如果是習(xí)俗，這當(dāng)然可以重新定義。如果是基督圣禮，那就很難了。之所以稱(chēng)之為圣禮，就是因?yàn)椴荒芨?。它被廣為接受就是因?yàn)樗庆`與肉的完美結(jié)合。當(dāng)我舉行圣餐禮，我需要面包和紅酒而不是茶和餅干，因?yàn)楹髢烧邿o(wú)法代表圣禮的含義 ——耶穌聲稱(chēng)面包和紅酒代表著他的血肉。如果婚姻是圣禮，那么它就需要男人和女人的結(jié)合，因?yàn)榛橐龅谋举|(zhì)要追溯到伊甸園——這是事關(guān)繁衍后代的性，父母雙方共同創(chuàng)造后代。這些道理很樸實(shí)，很具體，很自然。