A Rubicon has been Crossed – The Church of Scotland Assembly Decision on Saturday
From theweeflea:
As I prepare for the Free Church Assembly beginning this evening, I have been reflecting on what happened at the Church of Scotland Assembly on Saturday. This from the BBC sums it up well:
The Church of Scotland has voted to allow its gay ministers to marry.
The General Assembly meeting in Edinburgh voted 339 votes to 215 to update church law to bring it in line with secular Scottish law. The church already recognised ministers and deacons in same-sex civil partnerships and has today extended that to cover same-sex marriage.
The Church said in a statement immediately after the vote that the decision “does not compromise the Church’s traditional view of marriage as a union between one man and one woman.”
And it does not mean church ministers will be able to register same-sex civil partnerships or solemnise same-sex marriages themselves.
Speaking after the vote, the Very Rev John Chalmers, principal clerk, said: “We had a debate which made very clear that we were not interfering with our theological definition of marriage and were not going to the place where ministers or deacons could themselves conducting same sex marriages.
“It is an entirely different discussion.”
“Today’s decision means it will be possible for kirk sessions and congregations to depart from the traditional understanding of marriage to call not only potentially a minister in a civil partnership but one who is in a same-sex marriage.”
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