This, as various of my friends over on Dreamwidth have pointed out, is an elegant case of giving passive-aggressive people what they claim to want. The C of E insisted that it would be Wrong Wrong Wrong to allow same-sex marriages in their churches, because then any English same-sex couple could have a C of E wedding. (This was almost certainly not true: divorced heterosexuals can't insist on that right to be married in their local parish.) Rather than say "okay, Bishop, no church weddings for those icky homosexuals" they made an exception, rather than letting the established church make rules for everyone else.

I was just thinking this. Hopefully it'll work as it's meant to (and get repealed within our lifetimes).

Wait, doesn't that article say England is getting same-sex marriage? Just that certain churches won't be performing the ceremony? How is that inferior to what we've got going on in the US, where only a few states support same-sex marriage, and the federal gov't doesn't recognize it?

Along with refusing to elect female bishops, I'd say the C of E is on the fast track to total irrelevance and obscurity. Especially considering how secular Europe is becoming...