Evangelical Alliance alarm at Kirk's decision on same-sex blessings

The Scottish Evangelical Alliance has today expressed dismay at the news of the decision from the Church of Scotland's general assembly

24 May 2006

The Scottish Evangelical Alliance has today expressed dismay at the news that the Church of Scotland’s general assembly has voted marginally and controversially to allow ministers to conduct blessing ceremonies for same-sex civil partnerships.

The Evangelical Alliance has been prominent in warning that a change in the law that allowed same-sex couples to form civil partnerships based on matrimonial law represented a staging-post towards the inevitable legalisation of same-sex ‘marriage’. This latest step by the Church of Scotland serves as an immediate worrying confirmation that the Alliance's alarm was justified.

Keith Short, Chairman of the Evangelical Alliance Council in Scotland said, “We strongly reaffirm our commitment to marriage by definition being between one man and one woman. It is tragic to see the Kirk itself effectively endorsing a moral equivalence between marriage and same-sex partnerships. In our view this represents a betrayal of the church’s obligation to protect the dignity and sanctity of marriage and will directly contribute to the continuing undermining of family and matrimonial stability. As a consequence, marriage will increasingly become trivialised and disrespected until we are unable to prevent the absorption of almost any form of relationship under the label of ‘marriage’. That the church itself is succumbing to pressure from the world on this clear and fundamental issue is intensely distressing."

"We sincerely hope and pray that the Kirk’s presbyteries will stand up for orthodox and biblical truth when they come to give their verdict.”