Church of Scotland's "Gene Robinson" moment

David Ould
Stand Firm
Thursday, May 21, 2009

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland opened today in Edinburgh and will, this weekend, face what some members consider its greatest ever crisis.

On Saturday the Assembly will vote on the question of confirming the appointment and ministry of Scott Rennie to Queens Cross Parish Church in the Presbytery of Aberdeen. This appointment has caused serious protest in some quarters. Full details can be read in the published "Dissent and Complaint against a decision of the Presbytery of Aberdeen" [pdf] the key paragraphs of which are as follows:

Scott Rennie was presented by the Nominating Committee of Queen’s Cross Parish Church as sole nominee and was elected by a majority vote, after which the call was left to lie for the prescribed period. At the service at which Mr Rennie preached as Sole Nominee a document giving some of his biographical details was circulated with Mr Rennie’s consent which read, “he now shares a committed relationship with his Christian partner David”....

In the act of Ordination and Induction the Church of Scotland declares that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the supreme rule of faith and life in the Church of Scotland....

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, when they take up the subject of same-sex activity, present it as a wrong choice....

This is the historic and orthodox position of the Church from which it has not departed.

the rest at Stand Firm