Archbishop Upholds Marriage ...

It is good to hear than the Archbishop of Canterbury has assured MP's that "it would not countenance weakening its teaching on marriage".

According to the Daily Telegraph, he has been quite clear that the Church of England will "not be dictated to by the Government" on Civil Partnerships or same-sex Marriage.

This is particularly impressive as the Church of England has such a solid track record on upholding the sanctity of marriage and resisting government pressure.

Let us not forget that the CofE's raison d'être came from the problem of marriage in the court of King Henry VIII.

Faced with the perfect storm of a wife who would not produce male children, a mistress who was pregnant, and a Pope that was dragging his feet, the Church of England was born in order to dissolve the King's unfortunate marriage of 24 years.

When the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer declared the marriage invalid (whatever that means) this enabled Henry to marry his pregnant mistress Anne Boleyn - except oops, Henry had already married her 4 months before the first marriage was 'dissolved'. Nice one, Archbishop! Of course things had to look right so the Archbishop married them again, just to be on the safe side.

It is good to know that the CofE will "not countenance weakening its teaching on marriage".

Of course nothing like that could ever happen today.

Apart from the fact that the heir to the throne is now married to his mistress - the mistress who he had an affair with, for much of the duration of his first marriage. Oh yes, and she was married at the time as well.

But that is ok, because the CofE did not marry them - it just Blessed their Marriage in the Royal Chapel at St George's Windsor, and guess who led the service of Blessing - The Archbishop of Canterbury!

But of course, It is good to know that the CofE will "not countenance weakening its teaching on marriage".

In fact, when we think about it, there has been very little change. When Prince Charles becomes King, the 'Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England' will still be an adulterer who then married his mistress - just like Henry VIII.

In the Archbishop's eyes, the most important thing about marriage seems to be that we keep gay people out. 'No marriage, no blessing' appears to be the mantra of the Church of England when it comes to gay couples, but not to anyone else.

After all, we all need someone to look down on - someone to help us ignore all the ways in which we screw up God's ideals - someone on whom we can heap all the blame for not upholding marriage as we should.

And so, the CofE will "not countenance weakening its teaching on marriage" - because after all, it upholds it so well.