New York archbishop warns: after same-sex marriage, polygamy may be next

Following the decision by New York to allow same-sex marriage, Archbishop Timothy M Dolan warned that in future the state could permit polygamy.

Writing on his official blog, 'The Gospel in the Digital Age', Archbishop Dolan said on 7 July, that the Catholic Church has been a prophetic voice warning that no-fault divorce, cohabitation and promiscuity would lead to "a cheapening of the marriage bond and harm our kids."

"And now we ring the steeple bell again at this latest dilution of the authentic understanding of marriage, worried that the next step will be another redefinition to justify multiple partners and infidelity," he writes.

Archbishop Dolan said he was also concerned that the new law and similar legislation around the US will stifle religious rights.

"The problem is not homophobia but theophobia - a hatred by some of God, faith, religion, and the Church."

"If the experience of those few other states and countries where this is already law is any indication," believers "will soon be harassed, threatened, and hauled into court for their conviction that marriage is between one man, one woman," he said.

The New York archbishop stressed that from the outset, the goal of Catholics in the fight "was pro-marriage, never anti-gay."

"As I replied recently to a reporter who asked if I had any message to the gay community, 'Yes: I love you. Each morning I pray with and for you and your true happiness and well-being. I am honoured that so many of you are at home within our Catholic family, where, like the rest of us, we try, with the help of God's grace and mercy, to conform our lives to Jesus and His message.'"

Archbishop Dolan insisted that ultimately, regardless of same-sex marriage legislation and subsequent intolerance for religious beliefs, the Church always has and will stand up for marriage - "one man and one woman, united in lifelong and faithful love."

"None of this is anti-anybody, but simply pro marriage," he wrote.

To read Archbishop Dolan's full blog go to: http://blog.archny.org/?p=1349