The Church of Scotland and homosexuality

The 2009 General Assembly activity on
gay ordination, induction & placement

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2009-MAY: The General Assembly's vote on Rev. Rennie:

By an overwhelming vote, the congregation of Queen's Cross in Aberdeen, Scotland had selected Rev. Scott Rennie to be their new minister. His appointment was later confirmed by the local presbytery. Twelve members of the presbytery then initiated an overture (motion) before the General Assembly to forcibly overturn the congregation's and presbytery's decisions and terminate Rev. Rennie's appointment.

Conservative Christians in the Fellowship of Confessing Churches launched an online petition opposing Rennie's appointment. ₈  Signing of the petition was closed at the time of the General Assembly meeting. By that time, it had received 12,000 signatures from around the world including Africa and the U.S. -- countries where homophobia is particularly strong.

Among the signatories were:

	272 serving Church of Scotland ministers (about 20% of the total),
	More than 700 ministers from Christian churches in Britain and Ireland,
	More than 500 Christian ministers from other countries, and
	More than 5,000 Church of Scotland lay members (about 0.2% of the total membership).

The overture led to a review of Rennie's appointment by the Church of Scotland's General Assembly -- who temporarily sat as the denomination's highest court of law. Discussion of the case extended over more than four hours. Many topics were discussed: how left-handed persons were once considered "not normal," how the ancient Romans accepted loving, committed same-sex relationships, and how the Church has been able to change its mind in the past over other controversial issues such as allowing female candidates to be considered for the ministry. ₃

The Assembly approved Rennie's appointment by a vote of 326 to 267 (55%). ₄

Some reactions to Rennie's appointment and the General Assembly vote:

	After the General Assembly vote, the Fellowship of Confessing Churches -- the sponsors of the petition -- stated: Despite the depth of feeling across the churches of Scotland and the world about this matter, as reflected by the numbers signing this statement, the General Assembly voted (23rd May 2009) to back Aberdeen Presbytery by 326 votes to 267 (there were clearly many abstentions). This has created a precedent for all presbyteries, and sends a clear signal to the world that our denomination has departed from the teaching of the Christian Scriptures, upon which its very existence depends. It is a deeply painful day for all who love Christ and his gospel. May all in our churches remember the warning words of our Lord (Revelation 3:3), and seek earnestly to repent before it is too late. 8 Revelation 3:3 states: "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." (King James Version)
	One of the petition signers, Reverend David Randall, said he believed that:  ".... a minister is somebody who ought to live by the Bible. We believe that the Bible's teaching is quite clear in this matter - that marriage is the right and only context for sexual relationships." (Currently, loving committed same-sex couples cannot marry in Scotland, as they can in Canada, a few U.S. states, and some other countries.)
	Rev. Ian Watson heads up the Forward Together group. He delivered a sermon on MAY-10 at Kirkmuirhill Church in Lanark, Scotland, during which he drew a parallel between: The failure of Britain in 1938 to stand up against the Nazi Germany annexation of the Rhineland, and The refusal of many clergy and laity in the Church of Scotland to join a crusade against gays today. This linking of sexual minorities with German Nazis disturbed many Church of Scotland members.
	A demonstration was held at The Mound in Edinburgh during the General Assembly meeting. It was led by a Baptist Pastor -- Jack Bell of the Zion Baptist Church in Glasgow.  He said: "We are absolutely opposed to that on the basis of what God has to say about homosexuality in the Bible."
	A larger demonstration was organized by supporters of Rev. Rennie.
	The Rev. Ewen Gilchrist, the interim moderator at Queen's Cross, said there should be more acceptance of sexual minorities. He said:

"Sexuality is something that the church doesn't have a good track record about. We constantly lock it up and frown about it. Here's an opportunity to welcome it, to acknowledge the diversity of human sexuality and to bring that richness into our life and worship."

The Rev. Colin Coward, chairman of the gay-positive Anglican group Changing Attitudes, notes that there are hundreds of gay clergy and several gay bishops in the Church of England, as well as bishops who supported civil partnerships. He said:

"It's very significant that the Church of Scotland has voted in this way. The pressure is especially on conservatives in the church to examine carefully the distinction they try to make between [sexual] orientation and practice."

The Rev Martin Reynolds, of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said:

"This is a significant moment. I think the Church of England is stuck in refusing to acknowledge the presence of lesbian and gay people in its ranks."

Some senior conservatives in the Church of Scotland were furious about the Assembly vote. Two leading conservatives, the Rev David Court from Edinburgh and the Rev William Philip from Glasgow discounted the possibility that the vote would cause a schism in the Church of Scotland. However, they warned that it would distress many lay members:

"We deeply regret the decision of the general assembly, which has brought great shame on the name of our lord, Jesus Christ, and his church by publicly proclaiming as holy what God, the Bible, and orthodox Christianity all down the ages, and all over the world, unambiguously call sin. This is about far more than just sexuality. The very nature of the Christian gospel is at stake."

Affirmation! Scotland, a group promoting an inclusive denomination that welcomes persons of all sexual orientations, issued a statement:

"Affirmation Scotland applauds the grace and strength shown by The Revd. Scott Rennie and his partner through out this time; they have embodied all that is best in The Church of Scotland and so witnessed to the gospel."

"Affirmation Scotland rejoices in the decision of The General Assembly to allow the induction of Mr. Rennie as Minister at Queen's Cross Church to proceed. This was a courageous decision after much public debate and controversy."

"Affirmation Scotland recognizes that some in the church will be disappointed by this outcome but we plead that, in time, the peace and unity of the church will not be further damaged." ₄

Rev. Rennie told The Guardian Today that he was "humbled" by the vote, but had been "personally hurt" by the attacks on his appointment and private life. He said:

"I think the gospel is about hope and not about fear. I hope that a lot of people across Scotland and the UK will receive this decision as one of hope, and whatever the future holds, we need a spirit of hope so we talk together and we're not paralyzed by fear. Fear has nothing to do with the gospel. In fact Jesus so often said to his disciples 'Do not be afraid'." ... I'm already serving in a parish and so are other gay ministers serving in a parish. Are we never to move? ... The question was about the call of God in my life, the call of God in a congregation's life. ... Everybody responds to the call of God. Just because I'm gay doesn't mean that I shouldn't." _5,6,7

Full disclosure: The author of this essay is left-handed and is considered by some as not entirely normal -- mainly for reasons other than his hand orientation. Even worse, our part-time employee is red-headed, and probably would have been executed as a witch centuries ago because of that inherited trait. Both of us are profoundly heterosexual in orientation, although we have many GLBT friends.

2009-MAY-25 AM: Creation of a Special Commission:

Rev. Dr. John McPake proposed a motion to create a Special Commission that would consult with all of the denomination's Presbyteries and Kirk Sessions and prepare a report on ordination and induction to the ministry of the Church of Scotland.

Their deliberations would include study of both an earlier 2007 church report titled: "A Challenge to Unity: same-sex relationships as an issue in theology and human sexuality." They would also consider the case involving Rev. Rennie that was decided by the General Assembly on MAY-23. The Commission would be asked to report their conclusions to the 2011 General Assembly.

In the meantime, all church courts, councils and committees would be instructed to:

"... observe a moratorium on issuing public comment by any means, and on decision-making in relation to contentious matters of human sexuality, in particular with respect to Ordination and Induction to the Ministry, until after the Commission reports."

The motion also instructed all members to observe the same moratorium. This generated considerable debate until the Assembly passed an amended motion that discourages anyone from speaking to the media about the human sexuality aspects of ordinations and inductions.

Finally, another motion was approved that instructs the Presbyteries to observe a moratorium on ordinations and inductions that might prejudice the work of the Special Commission. That presumably will place on hold any ordinations or inductions of candidates who are involved in sexually active same-sex relationships.

Ordination of candidates in same-sex relationships is a thorny one. There are only three obvious resolutions to the conflict:

	Deny ordination across the board. This would please those in the evangelical wing of the denomination, who generally regard same-sex sexual behavior as incompatible with Christianity and the Bible's teachings. However it would be considered profoundly immoral by the more progressive wing, who generally regard homosexuality as a normal and natural orientation for a minority of adults.
	Ignore sexual orientation and behavior when selecting candidates for ordination and induction. This would infuriate the evangelical wing, and please the progressive wing, for the same reasons.
	Adopt some form of local option plan where the decision is made by the individual congregation or presbytery. This would probably satisfy neither the evangelical nor the progressive wing. It simply transfers the conflict to the regional or local level.

Judging by the ratification of Rev. Rennie's appointment, the progressive and evangelical wings are both large with the former perhaps being in the majority. Whatever resolution is chosen will result in extensive anger among much of the membership, and will probably cause a significant loss of membership. Yet, the conflict will not go away, and there is very unlikely that any new evidence will emerge over the next two years that will convince one of the wings to abandon their position.

2009-MAY-25 PM: Overture to ban gay clergy:

Back in 2007, the Church of Scotland's General Assembly discussed eliminating their prohibition on gay and lesbian clergy. They decided to take no action at that time.

In advance of the 2009 assembly, the Lochcarron and Skye Presbytery initiated an overture (motion) to specifically forbid the ordination of any candidate for the ministry who is sexually active with one or more persons of the same gender.

The overture is titled "Anent Ministerial Conduct" and states:

Whereas:

1. the Church's historic understanding of the Biblical teaching on homosexual practice has been questioned in recent years.

2. a lengthy period of reflection has elapsed without a resolution of the issue.

3. it is undesirable that the courts of the church should be asked to judge on individual cases in advance of any such resolution.

It is humbly overtured by the Reverend the Presbytery of Lochcarron-Skye to the Venerable the General Assembly to receive the Overture set out below,

"That this Church shall not accept for training, ordain, admit, re-admit, induct or introduce to any ministry of the Church anyone involved in a sexual relationship outside of faithful marriage between a man and a woman." ₉

Note that the rejection would apply to candidates who are either in a same-sex or opposite-sex relationship outside of marriage that is sexually active. It is not specifically designed to discriminate against persons with a homosexual or bisexual orientation who are involved in a sexual relationship.

The overture was scheduled to be discussed by the 2009 General Assembly. If it had been passed, it would have had to be ratified by a majority of the church's 48 presbyteries before becoming effective. ₄

As a result of the creation of the Special Commission, the Presbytery withdrew their overture on 2009-MAY-25. ₁₀ They had no other option, in view of the previous decision to declare a moratorium on public debates.

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "Gay Church of Scotland minister hits back at evangelical critics," TimesOnline, 2009-MAY-05, at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
2. "Evangelical groups call on Church of Scotland to back gay minister," PinkNews, 2009-MAY-22, at: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
3. Douglas Aitken, "Assembly Update Transcript #6," Church of Scotland, 2009-MAY-23, at: http://stream1.churchofscotland.org.uk/  This is a PDF file.
4. "Statement from Affirmation Scotland," Affirmation! Scotland, ~2009-MAY-24, at: http://www.affirmationscotland.org.uk/
5. Brian Donnelly, "Church of Scotland General Assembly upholds appointment of gay minister," The Herald, 2009-MAY-22, at: http://www.theherald.co.uk/
6. Severin Carrell, "Gay minister's appointment divides Church of Scotland," The Guardian, 2009-MAY-24, at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
7. "Kirk votes to back gay minister ," BBC News, 2009-MAY-24, at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/
8. "General Assembly 2009 Statement," Fellowship of Confessing Churches, at: http://www.confessingchurch.org.uk/
9. "GA09 Overture," Presbytery of Lochcarron-Skye, 2009, at: http://www.confessingchurch.org.uk/
10. Douglas Aitken, "Assembly Update Transcript #8," Church of Scotland, 2009-MAY-25, at: http://stream1.churchofscotland.org.uk/ This is a PDF file.

Copyright © 2000 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-JAN-21
Latest update: 2009-MAY-26
Author: B.A. Robinson

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