One Christian couple in Australia has threatened to get a divorce if same-sex marriage is made legal there.
Nick Jensen wrote an op-ed for the Canberra City-News, insisting that he and his wife Sarah will call off their legally recognized marriage if the government makes same-sex legal. He wrote that the couple are still happy and they might even have more children. However, they only want to be considered “husband” and “wife” by God, not the state.
“Our view is that marriage is a fundamental order of creation. Part of God’s intimate story for human history,” Jensen wrote. “Marriage is the union of a man and a woman before a community in the sight of God. And the marriage of any couple is important to God regardless of whether that couple recognises God’s involvement or authority in it.”
He continued, “My wife and I, as a matter of conscience, refuse to recognise the government’s regulation of marriage if its definition includes the solemnisation of same sex couples.”
After giving a history of state-regulated marriage, Jensen writes that Christians might eventually just stop having their marriages recognized by the government because they don’t like the government’s definition of marriage.
“This has been a big decision for my wife and I. Some will accuse of us being bigoted or too hateful to share. But this couldn’t be further from our intentions,” Jensen wrote. “The truth is, ‘marriage’ is simply too important. It is a sacred institution, ordained by God. It has always been understood to be that exclusive relationship where one man and one woman become ‘one flesh.’ Any attempt to change the definition of marriage by law is not something in which we are able to partake.”
Since the op-ed was published some have accused the City-News of homophobia, although, as the Huffington Post notes, the paper’s editor said that Jensen’s comments don’t reflect the paper’s opinion.
“I think this couple had an interesting angle, and that it was newsworthy,” editor Ian Meikle told news.com.au. “The article does not reflect the opinion of the paper. We published arguments and I decided it was a serious enough argument to genuinely warrant some attention.”
The Australian parliament is expected to vote on marriage equality by the end of the year.