Sir,

Reference Pastor Rob James's letter in The Tenby Observer of February 15, the pastor is entitled to his opinion but, on behalf of lifelong gay friends, I find it deeply offensive. A highly respected Roman Catholic in our community has always seen my Christian role as defending gay rights, so here I go. (And my concern applies equally to lesbians).

For my part, I believe that God's Word is and always has been open to interpretation: why otherwise, for instance, are there so many Christian denominations? Yes, there are the three synoptic Gospels, but isn't the jury still out on who wrote or first spoke their source material known as 'Q'? If Pastor James is such a Biblical literalist, in insisting on the uniqueness of marriage as 'a social institution that is primarily about children,' I wonder if his literalism applies to all areas of life? A law in Leviticus reportedly (perhaps the pastor can remind me of its precise reference details?) decrees that clothes made of mixed fibres shouldn't be worn; hadn't Christians who think like Pastor James better start checking their shirt and blouse labels for Poly/cotton? Yes, this is the Old Testament and, for Evangelists like Rob James, I'm sure it's very significant that Christians are Gospel children; however, Old Testament readings continue to occur regularly in church liturgy, partly to demonstrate how Old Testament prophesies came to be fulfilled in Jesus' life.

Since the institution of marriage is being claimed as uniquely the preserve of heterosexuals by come, it's interesting that statistics often quoted in the media demonstrate that more heterosexuals in contemporary Britain choose living together above marriage. Why, on Sunday, June 27, 2010, when the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams celebrated Eucharist at St. Mary's Church-in-Wales Parish Church, Tenby, was the building filled to its 700-seat capacity, but quite often only achieves around one-seventh of that number at 'normal' Sunday Eucharist?

I disagree with Nietzsche's famous claim that 'God is dead: 'God-breathed,' inspired scripture is wonderfully capable of moving with the times: witness the benefits of liberation theology for poverty-stricken Christians in central America from the 1970s on. Often, it seems that Christianity, especially in a display of conservatism (with both upper and lower case 'c's) and folly such as that made by our two local MPs in voting against gay marriage, marginalises itself.

I am bitterly disappointed and not a little angry that Simon Hart, MP, after hestitating, fell in line with the vote of the other seven Welsh Tory MPs in voting against same-sex marriage. Welsh Secretary, David Jones, certainly did not represent my views when he stated that the institution of marriage is meant to provide 'a warm and safe environment for the upbringing of children which is clearly something that two same-sex partners cannot do.' Same-sex couples in the public eye, like Sir Elton John and David Furnish, represent the success of same-sex unions in creating life (through a surrogate mother) and providing a stable, nurturing home for their children. As Sir Elton remarked, in a TV interview last year, the possibility of same-sex marriage could afford the high divorce rate of heterosexual marriage in contemporary Britain some thought-provoking insights.

And is or should marriage always primarily be about producing offspring? In a world that is already dangerously over-populated, has Creation brought forth plural sexual orientations - bisexuals, trans-sexuals, lesbians, gays and heterosexuals - partly in order to address the dire problem of over-population that faces us all and could have not merely disastrous but annihilating consequences for our society?

In my view it's as 'right' and 'natural' for this multiplicity of sexual orientations to exist and create unions as it is to be and live as a heterosexual - and not merely due to concerns about our numbers on Earth. Under the guise of opposing same-sex marriage, I reckon there remain a lot of closet homophobes in the woodwork of our eccelesiastcal buildings and beyond: in his letter, it seems to me that Rob James could be casuistically compressing and conflating several hugely significant issues for today's world, so that Welsh Conservatives are being exalted to higher moral ground than those who agree (however sceptically: what are the prime minister's reasons for courting the gay vote which, according to BBC political editor, Nick Robinson, historically has tended towards the more broadminded Labour Party?) with David Cameron? Is reactionary, backward-looking thinking colouring the political map on this issue and Wales being suborned as 'God's own country' by conservatives of all political colours? Enough to turn the once uniformly-red valleys True Blue.

Anne Alton,

Tenby.