Coalition for Marriage
The Coalition for Marriage (C4M) is a British umbrella pressure group opposing moves to redefine traditional marriage. It has accused politicians of "meddling with one of our greatest national institutions" and is urging people to sign a petition to keep the law unchanged. It uses the tagline “Don't play politics with marriage, one man + one woman”.
C4M was launched at Westminster by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, backed by high-profile Christians including Labour peer Lord Brennan QC and Conservative MPs Fiona Bruce, David Burrowes, Edward Leigh, David Nuttall and Stewart Jackson, along with Labour MPs Jim Dobbin and Joe Benton.
It can be noted that the Coalition for Marriage is a Christian initiative and contains both Catholic and Protestant organisations or organisations that are not specifically denominational. This can be contrasted with Keep Marriage Special created around the same time by the Church Society and the Protestant Truth Society which seems to have no Catholic involvement.
Views
C4M's campaign director Colin Hart, who is also the director of the Christian Institute, has dismissed the UK government's consultation on legalising gay marriage.
- "Not only are they redefining the meaning of marriage, they're redefining the meaning of consultation," he said. "None of the main political parties proposed redefining marriage in their manifestos and the impact assessment misses out many of the possible problems that could occur if this institution is redefined, for example how this change will affect our schools."
- The institution of marriage was not the "plaything of the state" and could not be redefined by "a few politicians obsessed with appearing 'trendy' and 'progressive'". [1]
People
- Colin Hart - campaign director
Board
- Samuel Webster - Secretary Appointment 24/01/2012. Webster is a solicitor for the Christian Institute
- Nola Leach - Director Appointment 24/01/2012. Leach is a chief executive of CARE and a director of CNK Alliance Limited aka Care not Killing.
- Andrea Minichiello Williams - Director Appointment 24/01/2012. Minichiello is chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre and a barrister. She is also director of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship and CCFON Limited.
- Norman Wells - Director Appointment 24/01/2012. Wells is the director of the Family Education Trust and a director of the Home Education Advisory Service
- Dr Donald Horrocks - Director Appointment 24/01/2012. Horrocks is the public affairs director of the Evangelical Alliance.[2]
Affiliations
Contact
C4M is not for profit company registered in England, incorporated on 13 December 2011. Company number 07880604.
- Registered office: 5 Park Road, Gosforth Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE12 8DG. (This is the Christian Institute's address).
- London office: C4M, 8 Marshalsea Road, London SE1 1HL.
- Website: http://c4m.org.uk/
Resources
Notes
- ↑ Sam Jones and James Schofield, Gay marriage consultation greeted with suspicion on both sides, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 March 2012, accessed same day
- ↑ COALITION FOR MARRIAGE LIMITED, Company Data Rex, acc March 2011
