Estonian Council of Churches confirms its support for scriptural view of marriage

TALLINN - The Estonian Council of Churches issued a statement on Tuesday, saying that all the Christian churches in Estonia that are members of the council support a comprehensive view of life, where there is harmony between the happy life of each person and the vitality of the whole nation, and expressing the conviction that this harmony is guaranteed by a scriptural view of marriage, children and family.

"God created humankind male and female in his own image and laid the foundation for marriage, a covenant-based union between the two sexes," the church leaders' appeal says.

The church leaders say that there are no examples in Scripture that would suggest that same-sex partnerships could be called marriage. Marriage is, by its very constitution, exclusively a form of complementary and supportive union between a man and a woman, as recorded in the creation stories of the Scripture.

According to the church leaders, the man is the father and the woman is the mother for the children born in the family, and it is they who have the primary privilege and responsibility to fulfill their parental task in all areas related to the growth and development of the children. The responsibilities of parents in a family are equal.

"We believe that a family based on marriage between a man and a woman is the basis of the nation's preservation and a prerequisite for its growth, which is in line with the Bible and the spirit, meaning and purpose of the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia. Children born of a father and a mother will not remain rootless. Children build their identity as their parents and grandparents have done, as well as all previous generations in the family lineage," the appeal says.

"We believe that ideals that are consistent with the Scripture also meet the prerequisites for a person's happy life. Ideals must be protected and their influence in society strengthened, because it is on them that the preservation of the Estonian nation and culture through the ages depends," the members of the Estonian Council of Churches say. 

"While respecting the right of all people to freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we expect the same attitude in return from those who do not share the same faith and life values as us. It is precisely on the basis of our faith that we are convinced that same-sex cohabitation is inherently different from marriage between a man and a woman, and therefore we do not agree with any attempts to blur or impair the legal and also substantive meaning of marriage as a union of one man and one woman by changing the current laws," the appeal says.