As an avid reader of the Church Times and a devout C-of-E Christian, I was surprised to hear that according to your doctrines (and not, I hasten to add, the scripture) “gay marriage” is not permitted. First of all, may I state that it is my belief that all marriages should be gay occasions; I have witnessed several that were not and found the lack of mirth highly disappointing. There is no injunction against merriment in the Bible – why the “happy couple” should not be happy, I cannot understand. Sunday services have always included wine and hymns. Are we to do away with those as well? I should hope not! One begins to wonder whether the decline in church-going is in fact not because of the advance of distracting technologies such as the iPhone but because of this injunction against “gayness”, which may well be off-putting to the fun-loving youth. Lastly, if this matter is in any way related to pansies, all I can say is that all flowers are equal in the sight of God, and the two that live down my street have always been perfectly pleasant and discreet.