October 25, 2013

Dear Sir,

A young man in Hamilton said to me today that people should have a license to have a child. An interesting thought that I have considered for years! We need a license to drive a car, or motorbike; a license to own a dog; in most states in the US one needs a license to own a gun, even to fish, and hunt. Universally, one needs a license to get married, and even this ‘right’ is made difficult in some areas for ‘same-sex’ marriages. But, back on to the young man’s thought, one can have a child without a license. There are extensive writings in The Bible about having sex out of wedlock — surely a child conceived out of wedlock is ‘legitimate’ in his/her rights, but, is the child’s status not compromised from the start, in not having a registered ‘father’? A licensing programme would at least give us a name to demand performance, in that the license would have to have two names. Can I ask for some input from our local churches?

SANDERS FRITH-BROWN