THERE are some unarguable truths in the Bible: the importance of love, humanity and the unlikelihood of getting a camel through the eye of a needle.

But I find the Church of Scotland's stance on gay marriage odd.

The result of the Scottish Government's consultation on same-sex marriage is expected early next month. I hope it will help show how the views of the General Assembly represent those of Scottish congregations.

If the Church's views are in the minority – as I suspect they will be – will it soften its stance towards gay rights?

From what I remember of teaching Sunday School, Jesus Christ seemed like an all right guy. He seemed quite a proponent of equality. So, what would Jesus do? I reckon he would be all right with gay people. He upheld the rights of women and he treated them as equals when they were treated as lesser persons. Jesus, were he around to take part in the present debate, would, I like to think, say: "Oh, go on then. "

We have heard all the arguments in the past few months. There are so many vortices of logic that it makes your head hurt.

I wonder, though, if objecting to same-sex marriage is wholly a religious thing or in part generational. My generation has largely come to accept gay people as equal, we are likely to have gay friends and I see many more out and comfortable teenagers than would ever have been the case during my high school years. Prejudice still exists, though, as evidenced by a survey released yesterday by charity Stonewall.

It is easy to forget that what we are so blase about was once illegal. It is asking something for people to adjust their mindset from a once-banned act to something actively supported by our legislators. People don't like to feel their values are threatened.

Society has drifted from the Church but drifted towards - what? TOWIE? There is no replacement and no similar place of communal reflection.

Instead of working with this change, as the Church of Scotland now has the chance to do, it is sticking to its guns.

Faith is not logic and when one has faith in a higher power it is hard to allow reason to shake belief. There are still Christians who believe gay people "choose" to be gay out of deviancy or confusion or in response to childhood trauma.

There has been very little mutual respect throughout this debate, with strong words emanating from both sides. The liberal view is to be in favour of same-sex marriage while calling those against it homophobic. Both groups are intolerant in the name of tolerance.

While I feel sorry for those who cannot countenance gay marriage, despite it having no ill effect on them, or causing hardship, I would stop short of understanding them.

The debate was time for the Church of Scotland to do something radical and important but it has failed. It is one thing to drift gently away from the Church, as I have. It is another to feel shame about an institution that informed so much of one's early life and still informs the lives of friends and family. A church must exist also to serve its people and I think that can be slightly forgotten in the heat of verbal battle. This is a chance for the Church to regain some relevance.

Among dusty pews and dated views the Church has forfeited its right to claim moral expediency, in my view.

Let's hope the result of the consultation shows that the views of the head of the Church are not those of the body, and that the body, in turn, will be forgiving of the head's intolerance.