A LEADING cleric last night jumped to the defence of the controversial Westminster Confession, central to the ordination of Church of Scotland ministers, after a Kirk publication suggested it was outdated because of its strong anti-Catholic sentiments.

The April edition of Life and Work, the Church of Scotland magazine, describes the 17th century document, regarded by some as a lynchpin of the Kirk's constitution, as ''archaic and sometimes outrageous''.

Controversial aspects include the Confession's damnation of Catholicism and sentiments that the Pope is the Antichrist.

However, the Rev David Searle, Warden of Rutherford House centre for theological study in Edinburgh, sparked a fierce debate last night after he said the document contained ''a great deal of valuable material'' and should remain intact.

Written more than 300 years ago, the Westminster Confession was an attempt by Charles I and his advisers to enforce Presbyterianism in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland after the Reformation. It was approved by the Kirk in 1647.

Mr Searle said: ''Since September 11, there has been much talk of religious tolerance, but it is a post-modern word which implies different things to different people.

''While Catholics may find parts of the Westminster Confession offensive there are as many Presbyterians who are as equally offended by writings such as the new Catholic catechisms which refer to Mary as the 'Queen of Heaven.'

''In 1986, the General Assembly distanced itself from the notion of the Pope being the Antichrist. While a certain number of ministers do not take the confession seriously there are a large number of ministers for whom to deny its tenets would cause problems.''

However, the Rev Alastair Hunter, senior lecturer in Hebrew and Old Testament studies at Glasgow University, said the Westminster Confession was an ''intolerable burden as it stands and has been for too long''.

Mr Hunter added: ''The religious intolerance in the Westminster Confession sounds almost like a West of Scotland thing. It is entirely antagonistic to Catholicism, but it must be remembered that it was written during the heat of Presbyterian reform in England.''

The Rev Finlay Macdonald, moderator-designate of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said it was a document of its day but it was time for the Kirk to move forward.

Mr Macdonald said: ''Our best minds and communicators need to come together to produce something fresh and contemporary. The Westminster Confession is hardly a manifesto.''

Mario Conti, the Archbishop of Glasgow, said last night the Confession was a document of the early post-Reformation period. ''References to the Pope as 'that Antichrist, that man of sin, that son of perdition' and descriptions of the Mass as 'repugnant' have to be read in that context,'' he said.

''I would not be so insensitive as to suggest a remedy, but it may be useful to note that within the Catholic church we have over the years replaced oaths against heresy with a positive profession of what we do believe in rather than what we reject.''

The Church of Scotland, with a membership of more than 600,000, currently has 1087 ministers and about 50,000 elders, but it is thought only a handful of them have read the Westminster Confession.

The Key Extract

There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof (but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is called God).