Defects of dogma
The fact that workers in these agencies are not allowed by Church leaders to use their judgment and experience to place children with same-sex couples means that some children who could have been placed in loving homes are left to be damaged by all the widely-acknowledged disadvantages (relative to the advantages of a secure and loving home) of the care system.
The Catholic Church, in particular, appears unwilling to countenance any action by adoption agencies that might imply a degree of recognition of same-sex couples, since that might imply a retreat from its hostility to same-sex couples as “morally defective” (Archbishop Mario Conti).
Thus the interests of children are sacrificed to dogma.
Paul Brownsey
Larchfield Road
Bearsden
Glasgow
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Hide AdROBERT Canning thinks I am living in a world of my own (Letters, 30 January). I can assure him I am not alone in a world where marriage is the institution of a family, which creates a direct relationship between its members through ties of blood. It creates descendants. And in doing so, it is a fundamental act in building the stability both of individuals and of society.
A mother and a father indicate to a child his genealogy. A child needs this to position himself as an individual and in relation to the succession of generations. For millennia, our society has been founded on a dual lineage – that of the father and that of the mother. It guarantees that each individual can find his place in the world; he knows where he or she comes from. There is a real prospect now of destroying that system. A child adopted by same-sex “parents” is denied this fundamental right to a mother or a father.
What we are seeing now is motherhood and fatherhood being replaced with “parenthood”; children no longer being the subjects of rights, but objects people claim to have a right to; and a blurring of identity where our gender “preferences” or “orientations” are coming to take precedence over sexuality. All in the name of a supposed fight against inequality, which has been distorted into a movement to eradicate difference.
These are the core issues which should be tackled when debating same-sex marriage and parenting, because they take us back to the ground rules of the society in which we want to live.
Martin Conroy
Oldhamstocks
East Lothian