By Phoebe Moses

LONDON, UK – The former ordained head of the Church of England called attempts to legalize same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom an effort to “undermine” the traditional family.

George Lord Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, told the Daily Mail that “The ideal is for children to be raised by a mother and father who are married,” and said that marriage equality is merely a “power grab” by a secular government to control an institution it does not own.

“The honorable estate of matrimony precedes both the state and the church, and neither of these institutions have the right to redefine it in such a fundamental way,” Carey said.

“I do not believe the British public wants any of this,” he added, saying that the “move to legalize same-sex marriage is undemocratic.” Carey told the British newspaper that a new group, the Coalition for Marriage, had been formed to oppose the government’s plans to change the nation’s marriage laws.

Carey’s comments were met with strong opposition from Britain’s gay rights groups. “Coalition members are entitled to believe that same-sex marriages are wrong, but they are not entitled to demand that their opposition to such marriages should be imposed on the rest of society and enforced by law,” said British LGBT rights advocate Peter Tatchell. “The coalition is out of touch with public opinion. Most British people now support marriage equality.”

In fact, all three of Britain’s major political parties—Conservative, Labor, and Liberal– support same-sex marriage. Speaking last year at the Conservative Party’s national convention, Prime Minister David Cameron was clear about his stand on the issue: “To anyone who has reservations, I say this: yes, it’s about equality, but it’s also about something else: commitment. Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us; that society is stronger when we make vows to each other and support each other. So I don’t support gay marriage in spite of being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I am a Conservative.”