A SPLIT has emerged in a Christian church over the issue of same-sex marriage.

The hierarchy of the Scottish Episcopal Church, whose membership is around 55,000, has formally rejected plans to alter the law to allow gay marriages.

However, one church, St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow, is supporting the proposals in defiance of its leaders' views.

The Provost, the Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, who wants the right to conduct full marriage ceremonies for gay couples, has been backed by the cathedral's governing body, despite the formal submission from the Synod of the Church rejecting a change in the law.

He said: "As this is a place where gay couples can already seek God's blessing on their civil partnerships, it would be unsurprising if there were not gay couples who look to us for marriage when the law is changed to allow this to happen. We believe gay couples can show forth God's grace in the same way straight couples can."

He added it was too early to say what he would do if the reform were passed, in terms of defying his Church's hierarchy, as the details were still not known.

The formal response from Scotland's Jewish communities also shows the orthodox and liberal wings of the faith taking different sides on the issue.

As the consultation draws to a close this week, the umbrella group Equal Marriage said its 18,000 submissions were "genuine" individual responses, in contrast to many on the other side of the argument who were simply asked to return pre-printed cards.

Tom French, of the Equality Network, said its campaign was one for human rights and religious freedom, ensuring those of all faiths who wanted to celebrate same-sex marriages were not barred from doing so.

"How do you teach equality in schools and combat homophobic bullying when the law treats gay couples differently?" he said.

Shabnum Mustapha, Scots director of Amnesty International, said it was hard to argue for human rights abroad when they were denied at home, while Grant Costello, of the Scottish Youth Parliament, said the younger generation was strongly in favour.

The secretary of the Humanist Society of Scotland, John Bishop, said it fully backed the change to complete equality of choice for everyone, in whatever relationship, to marry or enter into a civil partnership.

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