THE first presbytery to respond in a new vote over plans to allow ministers in civil partnerships in the Church of Scotland has opted against the move.
The Presbytery of Lewis is the first of the 46 presbyteries to announce its decision ahead of the December deadline over the issue.
The Kirk agreed at its General Assembly in May to send its presbyteries back for further discussion on draft Church legislation that could allow local control over appointing a minister in a civil partnership.
John Cunningham, Lewis Presbytery Clerk, said in a statement the proposal could lead to division within the Church.
He said: "Lewis Presbytery of the Church of Scotland has voted unanimously against a proposal from the General Assembly of the Church that would have permitted people in same sex partnerships to become ministers in the church.
"The presbytery has also advised the General Assembly that the proposal, or overture, would mean that members who base their beliefs on the Bible may feel that their views were being excluded from the Church of Scotland.
"The presbytery warned that the overture, which will be voted on by all the presbyteries of the Church throughout Scotland, is in danger of causing further disunity in the Church."
The Church has been struggling with the issue since 2009, when openly gay Rev Scott Rennie was appointed to an Aberdeen church.
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