- Comment by successful Jersey singer and songwriter Nerina Pallot
- Follows a referendum this weekend which saw Ireland vote overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage
- 1.2 million people voted in favour – almost two thirds of those who voted
- The referendum saw Ireland write itself into history books by becoming the first country in the world to adopt gay marriage through a popular poll
- Do you agree with gay marriage? Take part in our poll below
EVERYTHING about the result of the Irish marriage referendum pleased me – the outcome, the way it was put to the popular vote, and the moving pictures on social media of train-loads of ex-pat Irish returning home to vote, resplendent in rainbow colours and, God bless them, necking back beer first thing in the morning on the way to the ferry.
Only the stoniest-hearted reactionary curmudgeon could fail to be moved by these scenes, of young and old, wearing T-shirts bearing the simple message ‘Love’.
Even more encouraging, it represented a bellwether for countries where church and state have been so intrinsically bound together, and was a victory for humanity over stale religious dogma.
So many Catholics – like myself, although I am hugely lapsed – have grown up questioning how we can be taught about loving each other and yet watch religion make people miserable on a daily basis.
The hypocrisy of the church and its lethargic approach to addressing historic child abuse has contributed to the disillusion of many Catholics and has also undermined its already questionable right to interfere with secular issues.
So it was doubly pleasing that the equal marriage vote put the quite literal fear of God into the church, and for the charmingly named drag queen Panti Bliss to state that Ireland ‘is no longer a country ruled by the Catholic Church’.
It confirmed what I know from all my Irish friends: they may go to church regularly, they may identify as Catholic and be proud of their nationalit,y but none of them think they have the right to interfere in other people’s personal lives.
I don’t think our moral compass is defined by religion. Rather, it is something innate in all of us that exists completely separate from whatever God we may choose to believe or not believe in.
It is our human, not religious, duty to follow this compass– being religious is a choice; being human is not.
Most sensible people realise this, of course, and we are re-shaping our world accordingly.
While nobody would expect the Vatican to be happy, Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s outburst that the result was ‘a defeat for humanity’ beggars belief, and is precisely the kind of reaction that is turning away young western Europeans from the church.
If the church’s last hope for recruitment is in some of the more homophobic nations of the developing world, then that is a church founded on fear, not love. Who would want to be part of that?
Good for Ireland, good for us all.
Live and let love, that’s the resounding message.
Just one last thing: let’s just call it marriage now, without qualifiers.
Love is, after all, love.
