Bishop Colin Johnson made this statement today following the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage:

The Canadian Supreme Court’s opinion released today clarifies the federal government’s right to redefine marriage to include marriages between same-sex couples. It also reaffirms rights of religious freedom that continue the existing responsibility of churches and other religious institutions to determine for whom they will perform the religious rites of marriage.

Our civil laws should accurately reflect current societal values.

Marriage is a civil and, for some, a religious institution. These two aspects are not identical. Marriage predates the church, and civil and religious elements have frequently been at odds (for example, the remarriage of divorced people).

Today’s opinion relates primarily to the civil definition of marriage, and also reaffirms protection for the religious convictions that undergird the second.

In civil law, marriage is a contractual arrangement. We support the government’s desire and, we believe, obligation to maintain the equality of all people before the law. Property rights, inheritance issues, access to care and personal support, are a matter of justice, and must be available in a fair and equitable manner to all.

For the Anglican Church of Canada, marriage is not only a contract but, more important, a sacramental covenant. A civil redefinition of marriage does not change this. Christian marriage embodies God’s purpose for creation. The couple publicly vows an exclusive and unconditional commitment of love and honour as a sign of God’s abiding, creative love. In the words of the Book of Common Prayer, the union between a man and a woman signifies the “mystical union betwixt Christ and his Church,” for the “procreation of children …and for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, in both prosperity and adversity.”

Priests of the Anglican Church have always exercised the freedom to decline to solemnize marriages that do not conform to the Church’s teaching and requirements. We believe that today’s ruling does not change and, in fact, reinforces this right.