Ministers in a same-sex marriage could soon be working in Scottish parishes after the ruling body for the Church of Scotland took the first step in approving their appointment. In a further victory for liberal reformers, the general assembly of the Church of Scotland voted on Thursday to propose the historic change after agreeing last weekend to approve the appointment of gay ministers in civil partnerships.
Last Saturday’s decision to allow congregations to appoint gay men and women in civil partnerships followed a protracted and often bitter dispute with traditionalists, which has seen ministers and congregations quit the Church in protest. Both decisions, which mark a major shift in the Church of Scotland’s attitudes to gay clergy, come as voters in Ireland prepare for an historic referendum on Friday on the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
Following the latest vote, by 215 in favour to 195 against, the Church of Scotland’s presbyteries will now be consulted and asked to approve the plan to extend the same rights to married gay ministers by the end of 2015. If a majority agree to it, the law change will be put to a final vote at next year’s general assembly.
The liberalisation of Church policy is described as allowing individual congregations to opt out of traditional church teaching – by appointing gay ministers – rather than requiring all churches to follow the same policy.
The Very Rev Prof Iain Torrance, convenor of the Church’s theological forum, told a general assembly that the new policy was a legal process that extended to married gay ministers the same rights already given to those in civil partnerships. He insisted that the measure would not change the Church’s traditional stance on marriage, nor amount to a recognition of the validity of same-sex marriage. His forum was now working on a review of the theology of gay marriage.
Speaking after the vote, the Very Rev David Arnott, coordinator of the Church’s principal clerk’s office, said: “The general assembly understood this to be a logical extension of the benefits which accrue to those in civil partnership.”
The Torrance motion was accepted after a rival proposal, to defer the decision for two years until the theological forum’s report was completed, was rejected by 213 votes to 205.
