ΜΑΛΤΑ. ΜΟΥΣΟΥΛΜΑΝΟΙ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΘΟΛΙΚΟΙ ΕΝΩΜΕΝΟΙ ΕΝΑΝΤΙΟΝ ΤΟΥ ΓΑΜΟΥ ΟΜΟΦΥΛΩΝ

Muslims and Catholics unite against ‘negative' media and same-sex marriage
Christian Peregin (timesofmalta.com, 24/6/2010)
Archbishop Paul Cremona this morning called for the State to help couples prepare for marriage due to an increase in couples deciding against faith marriages.
Speaking at the opening session of a seminar intended to discuss the role of the family from a Muslim and Christian perspective, organised by the World Islamic Call Society, he also said that the media needed to be used to promote messages in favour of marriage stability.
He said moral support should be offered to people who are trying to overcome difficult moments in their marriage, not only those who want to separate.
Mgr. Cremona said according to the Christian tradition marriage was between a man and a woman, created in the image of God with equal dignity, where the spouse was a gift from God the father.
He said the Church needed to convince society that religion played an important role and gave an essential contribution of raising children.
"The destruction of the family brings also great problems to the State, even economic problems," he said.
Meanwhile, Ammar Hreba, head of the Islamic Centres and Propagation Bureau, said that even according to the Muslim tradition, marriages were based on the male and the female.
"If we let the family collapse, thanks to the negative directions of the media, this will lead to catastrophes and destruction. Same-sex marriages, for instance, destroy the entity of how family began with Adam and Eve."
He said negativity in the media leads to violence, but the Divine Call enables human beings to maintain the human race.
He called for the cooperation of the Church in Malta so that in a spirit of dialogue they could safeguard the family, by cooperating also with the government.
Maltese Muslim Mario Farrugia Borg warned against the erosion of values and the new challenges that did not exist 30 or 40 years ago, which he said were detrimental to the family.
He said it was a good sign that Christians and Muslims came together because they had "so much in common" in this regard.
The rest of the seminar, where four papers are to be discussed, was closed to the media. The discussions are also expected to touch upon issues of disagreement such as divorce and polygamy.