EVANGELICALS have warned that allowing gay ordination will lead to more worshippers leaving the Church of Scotland as unofficial figures reveal majority backing for the move.
It is understood that 32 of the Kirk's 46 presbyteries have voted in favour of allowing local Church leaders to decide whether they want a gay minister who is in a civil partnership.
The Kirk's annual gathering of more than 700 senior figures, the General Assembly, is expected to make a decision on allowing gay ordination next year, after it most recently voted 369 in favour and 189 against of continuing its compromise position in May, and presbyteries voted in its favour in the latest round.
Rev Douglas Cranston, of the traditionalist Forward Together group, said he believed the result of the vote by the presbyteries would lead to members of the Kirk leaving which would also have a financial impact on congregations.
He said: "I really don't think this is going to provide the unity that everyone thought it would.
"More people are going to leave and more people are going to stop giving.
"I know congregations where this is happening.
"I think to begin with it will be people leaving in ones and twos. Then it will be more.
"By the very nature of the votes, it is really fairly divisive."
It is reported that in some presbyteries just a few Kirk Sessions' votes made the difference with presbyteries in favour such as Gordon said to have voted 24-21, and 29-26 in Moray, 15-11 in Sutherland, 45-29 in Aberdeen, 38-14 in Kincardine and Deeside, 13-12 in Caithness, 15-11 in Orkney and 10-9 in Shetland.
The proposal was rejected by presbyteries including Lochcarron and Skye by 12 votes to two, Inverness by 49-13, Ross by 38-5, Lewis 19-0 and Buchan 40-19.
Lewis Presbytery was the first to reveal its vote when it said it rejected the move towards change, while it is understood Perth Presbytery, one of the last to vote, backed the Kirk's proposal at the weekend.
The debate was sparked by the appointment of openly gay Rev Scott Rennie, who is in a civil partnership, to a church in Aberdeen in 2009.
The liberal group Affirmation Scotland has said it is "important that it is supported as it will allow the Church to take a significant step forward".
The Rev Lindsay Biddle of Affirmation Scotland said that the result of the vote of the presbyteries is heartening.
The group said earlier: "It is easy to forget the change that has taken place in the Kirk and in Scottish Society in a relatively short time. "
The May vote brought the call for the result to be sent down to its presbyteries for further discussion of the piece of draft Church legislation, known as an Overture, which the Kirk said "offers a way of accommodating differing views on ministers and deacons in civil partnerships".
The Kirk's Theological Forum that examined the issue previously urged members to continue to allow the compromise deal that allows Kirk Sessions to decide whether to let a gay minister take up a local role.
The decisions of the presbyteries will be reported back to the General Assembly in May 2015.
The Kirk said that "if a majority are in favour, a final vote will be taken at next year's gathering".
A Church of Scotland spokesman said: "The vote is under way and presbyteries have until December 30 to submit their returns.
"Each presbytery will be debating and voting according to their own individual points of view.
"The details of the outcome of the votes will be announced in the new year."
Since 2009, 13 parish ministers from the Kirk's 1389 congregations have left over this issue.
They have included Rev Ian Watson and more than 100 church members at Kirkmuirhill, in South Lanarkshire, who said at the time that the Church of Scotland had drifted too far from the teachings of the Bible.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article