Church, politics and gay marriage

An anonymous letter circulated from a Forest Hill Orthodox Church asking patrons to oppose Marriage Amendment Bills can potentially create a political backlash against the government.
The letter made many patrons believe the Gillard government is voting in favour of gay marriage.
The letter's existence quickly came to the attention of the Deputy Speaker, Ms Anna Burke who in turn passed it on to the Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Ms Gillard's office is in the process of drafting a letter to the Greek community to clarify her party's position.
The letter is an exact copy of the email the Archdiocese asks people to send to their Federal Member of Parliament on their website "Speak up for Marriage".
It says, "I consider it my duty to inform you about how the Orthodox Christian faithful in your constituency regard this issue.
We hold marriage to be sacred. Its uniqueness must not be eroded in any way."
Ms Gillard's office told Neos Kosmos that her position has not changed and wanted to assure the Greek community that it wouldn't.
"I have made my position on this clear for a long period of time now, I do not support a change to the Marriage Act, the Marriage Act defining marriage as it does as a union between a man and a woman.
I believe that marriage has come to have a particular cultural status and role within our society and I do not believe that should be changed," the Prime Minister said.
For Greek Australian MP, Mr John Panadzopoulos, the issue stems from a potential conscience vote on gay marriage that Ms Gillard might introduce, prompting the Church to make their opinion known.
"It has been raised with me and other MPs that some priests are misinforming the public stating that 'Julia Gillard is supporting gay marriage' when clearly the public record says she does not.
MPs have the constitutional right to propose laws and the PM has said that if it reaches this stage she will allow a conscience vote," he told Neos Kosmos
The Archdiocese' website says 6800 emails calling on patrons to "Speak Up For Marriage" have been sent to Federal MPs.
The Archdiocese is pushing forward with its drive to save the "sanctity of marriage".
Archbishop Stylianos said in his recent Encyclical letter, "Our Orthodox view is contrary, not because we have hostile feelings towards our fellow citizens who think or decide differently, but because the proposed alteration to the traditional form of marriage (between a man and a woman) is diametrically against the sacredness of marriage and the family, as taught by the Christian faith and Greek Orthodox Tradition."
The letter shows the issue of gay marriage is still at large and is opposed by some Greeks.
Neos Kosmos has found the sentiment in the Greek community differs slightly with age, but as a whole many do not approve of gay marriage.
Fotini Papanikolaou of Endeavour Hills believes marriage should be equal for all groups.
"When two people love each other - they love each other, no matter if they are straight or not. If we can get married, why can't they do it; denying anyone the right to marry because of gender or sexuality is simply not fair. They have every right to express themselves," she says.
Stelios Triandafilidis of Oakleigh weighs in on the legal and religious issue.
He says "from a legal standpoint, whether the couple will get married or not, is their issue. I do not think they should be discriminated for that. But from the religious point of view, this topic gets far more complex".
Mr Pandazopoulos implores the church to have a more balanced approach and does not feel such an issue should take precedence over other more important issues in the Greek community.
"The community and church need to have a balanced approach. Do we lose many of our supporters on such a single issue? Is this issue more important than all others relating to the Greek community that we are prepared to redefine friendships and supporters?
In this campaign I call on the church to ensure that parishioners are properly informed," he said.