The Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Arch-Diocese, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Sunday urged the National Assembly to reconfirm the definition of marriage and not to waste energy deliberating on same-sèx marriage.
Onaiyekan made the call in Abuja, at the opening mass of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), titled 'Faith and Dignity for Human life'.
He said marriage, a concept of union between man and woman, was being compromised in so many places today, adding that it was brutal to try to change God’s order.
The cleric said: "I will like to advise our legislators not to waste their energy legislating on what is meaningless: same-sèx marriage.
"They should rather simply reconfirm the definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman, thereby denying any execution of the status of marriage to whatever comes outside that definition."
Onaiyekan further urged Nigerians to be courageous to resist the negative influence of some advanced countries stressing that abortion is wrong.
"There can be no justification for killing the innocent, especially babies.
"We must have the courage to resist the pressures of some of the advanced countries seeking to drag us with them into the root of moral decadence," he said.
The Cardinal called on members of the National Assembly to stand up and hold high the respect for human dignity.
President of CBCN, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, in his remarks saidtechnological advancement did not equate man with God but was only a gift to be used to ensure the dignity of life.
"Scientific and technological advancement has made man want to equate himself with God.
"It must be understood that whatever achievements man has made is only a gift from God to be used for positive purposes in ensuring the dignity of the human person.
"We believe that life starts from conception to a natural death and it is very sacred.
"We are against any future legislation that will down play the dignity of marriage by allowing same sèx marriage.
"Muslims and Christians in Nigeria must stand to defend the dignity of marriage, the family and the protection of life especially of the unborn," he stated.
Senate President David Mark, who was represented by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Paulinus Igwe, said the Senate was against whatever that violated human dignity.
"Whatever violates the integrity of the human person such as arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, selling of women and children are poisonous and harmful to human society.
"We stand to condemn them in all ramifications," he said, adding that the dignity of the human person could not be compromised.
He said the weak and defenseless human beings, especially the unborn children and those at the edge of life, should be defended and protected.
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