On Royal Wedding day I posted about William Blake’s “Jerusalem”: a Christian hymn? I noted that although it was sung at William and Catherine’s marriage service many Christians do not consider it a Christian hymn – although I tend to disagree.

Amazingly enough, as reported by the BBC, this same song “Jerusalem” was brought up in the House of Commons today, here in England, in a debate about gay “weddings”. An MP asked:

“If you’re a heterosexual couple and you get married in church many clergy will refuse to allow it to be sung because it’s not a hymn addressed to God.

“If you get married as a straight couple in a civil wedding you’re point blank not allowed it because it’s a religious song.

“If, however, you’re a gay couple and you have a civil partnership, under the government plans you will be allowed to sing Jerusalem.

“So can we just make sure that Jerusalem is not just reserved for homosexuals.”

His comments were met with laughter in the House.

In response, Commons leader Sir George Young said: “I think Jerusalem should be played on every possible occasion.”

I would tend to agree with Sir George, as far as weddings are concerned, and of course if it is what the couple want. It seems to me that the ban on religious songs at civil weddings is anachronistic and unnecessary.

I don’t know if this is something that churches are insisting on for heterosexual couples, to encourage even slightly religious couples to have church weddings. Of course they wouldn’t insist on the same rules for gay couples as they don’t want to be forced to conduct religious gay “weddings”. But I consider it a counter-productive strategy, not to mention one tainted by the dangerous error of Caesaropapism, for churches to request the secular authorities to interfere on their behalf in essentially religious matters like this.

Churches may well want to reverse the decline in their share of the wedding market, not least because it can be very lucrative. But for this they should not trust in a legally enforced monopoly on hymn singing. Instead they should seek to build up public understanding of the advantages of good Christian marriages based on living Christian faith.