Leaders of the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom have reacted strongly against the prime minister’s recent statement that he intends to support same-sex “marriages” in churches.

Prime Minister David Cameron “seems utterly determined to undermine one of the key foundations of our society...he is luring the people of England away from their common Christian values,” Bishop Philip Egan of the Diocese of Portsmouth said in a recent statement.

The bishop said Cameron is drawing the English from their “Christian patrimony” and is “forcing upon us a brave new world, artificially engineered.”

In a television interview Dec. 7, Cameron said he is an enthusiastic supporter of marriage and he doesn’t want “gay people to be excluded from a great institution.”

Not only is he pushing for legislation to legalize same-sex “marriage,” he also wants churches to be allowed to conduct weddings for homosexual couples.

In March, however, his government wrote that “legislation would be clear that no religious organization could conduct a religious marriage ceremony on religious premises for same-sex couples.”