A High Court judge has criticised the Government for focusing on gay marriage plans rather than a "crisis of family breakdown".
Sir Paul Coleridge, who sits in the family division, told The Times that the proposals were the "wrong policy".
He said: "So much energy and time has been put into this debate for 0.1% of the population, when we have a crisis of family breakdown.
A High Court judge has criticised the Government for focusing on gay marriage plans
"While it is gratifying that marriage in any context is centre stage...but it (gay marriage) is a minority issue.
"We need a more focused position by the Government on the importance of marriage."
Sir Paul last year launched independent charity Marriage Foundation to support married couples but said the charity did not take a stance on gay marriage.
He added that the breakdown of marriages and its impact on society affects 99.9 per cent of the population, which is where more investment and time should spent.
It comes after the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales attacked the government's gay marriage bill, labelling it "undemocratic" and a "shambles".
The Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols said yesterday in an interview with the BBC that there was no mandate to enforce same-sex marriage laws.
He said: "There was no announcement in any party manifesto, no Green Paper, no statement in the Queen's Speech.
"And yet here we are on the verge of primary legislation.
"From a democratic point of view, it's a shambles.
"George Orwell would be proud of that manoeuvre. I think the process is shambolic."
Speaking to the congregation at Westminster Cathedral during Christmas Eve mass, Archbishop Nichols said: "Sometimes sexual expression can be without the public bond of the faithfulness of marriage and its ordering to new life.
"Even governments mistakenly promote such patterns of sexual intimacy as objectively to be approved and even encouraged among the young."
The government is confident of getting a bill, set to be introduced in January, through the Commons and the Lords - however it may have to rely on the Labour Party to secure its passage.