Church to Apologise for Past Discrimination Against Gay People

Thursday May 25 2017

General Assembly Day 5

Church to investigate legal barriers to performing same-sex marriages
National Youth Assembly to end in current form after 2019
Church to sign Armed Forces Covenant

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has agreed to apologise to the gay community for historic discrimination, and to take a step towards permitting its ministers to officiate at same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Following a three-and-a-half hour debate, the deliverance of the Theological Forum was passed with two amendments by the Assembly.

The Legal Questions Committee will now be asked to 'undertake a study of the matters which would require to be addressed in any new legislation permitting Ministers and Deacons to officiate at same-sex marriage ceremonies', with a report to come to next year's Assembly.

In his speech, forum convener the Rev Professor Iain Torrance said that the Church’s journey on the issue had parallels with the one it has taken on the ordination of women, in which the argument was initially won by ‘justice arguments’, reluctantly accepted by traditionalists, but later gave way to a new theological understanding which made room for women’s ministry.

He said that the Forum was trying to frame the argument in a new way, drawing on the work of theologian Robert Song: “Song suggests that rather than the old fraught polarization of heterosexual versus homosexual, where the notion of homosexuality is demonized as disobedient to a creation expectation to pro-create, that entire polarization needs to be reframed.

“This is much the same way that our thinking about the ordination of women was reframed and placed on a different basis. The re-framing now is to understand that there are procreational unions and there are non-procreational ones. And non-procreational unions are not deficient.  Both are valid, in so far as they are rooted in Christ, and each in its own different way witnesses to the faithfulness of God.

“After much discussion the Forum saw this as one of those historic points where a deepening occurs in theological thinking, where suddenly the pieces of a long argument come together in a different way. Where both sides can flourish, both may be protected and both may be celebrated.”

Later in the debate, he said: “I believe that the middle of the road is habitable and with a will we can make it habitable. By inhabiting the middle of that road, recognising this we can be an example to other people. This report has been read widely and been welcomed by others as opening a door and showing them that we can handle this long-running, this dreadful argument better.”

On the section calling for an apology, elder Ishbel Smith said: “I am the church, you are the church, we are the church; and it is our duty to take this deliverance into our churches and consider it, and not to ignore it.”

An initial counter-motion not to receive the sections of the report on same-sex marriage was defeated by 298 to 149. Proposing the counter-motion, the Rev Steven Reid said the report lacked balance and did not listen to scripture, and the Rev Alastair Horne said it prioritised human rights over God’s rights.

The Rev Peter Johnston had a section added to the deliverance ‘recognising the Church’s doctrine and practice in matters of human sexuality and marriage’, which was accepted by Professor Torrance, and which Mr Johnston said offered room for people from the traditionalist position to have their views respected.

This defeated another counter-motion proposed by the Rev Dr Alan Hamilton which attempted to add a section to the deliverance ‘recognising and affirming the Church’s existing doctrine and practice in matters of human sexuality’ – including the statements that homophobia is a sin but that bona fide belief and preaching that ‘homosexual activity is contrary to God’s will’ is not homophobia; and the reports and decisions of the General Assemblies of recent years. He argued that the deliverance as it was presented was asking the Church to apologise for its recent decisions, which it could not do with any integrity.

However, Mr Johnston said that it would ‘dilute the apology so as to make it meaningless’.

He also said that he was asking to be in a position to perform the marriage of his gay daughter, in the same way he could his three straight children.

The Rev Scott Rennie said Dr Hamilton’s amendment would have reduced gay men like him ‘to sex, instead of seeing the wholeness of our relationships’.

The Rev Hector Morrison, Principal of the Highland Theological College, moved a countermotion which would have removed sections of the report summarising the traditionalist position; a motion backed by some commissioners who said they didn’t recognise how it represented their opinion. Edinburgh elder Scott Burton said it was ‘a caricature’ and that he was ‘hurt’ by it. However, this was defeated by 269 votes to 191.

A sub-section was added asking the Ecumenical Relations Committee to consult with partner churches on the process; and another new section added asking the Theological Forum to investigate theologically the theme of reconciliation, with particular reference to the same-sex marriage debate.

Earlier, the convener of the Mission and Discipleship Council, the Rev Norman Smith, said that the Church’s conversation ‘should be about what God has done, is doing, and is going to do’.

As the Assembly approved a series of themes based around ‘stories’ for the years 2018-2020, Mr Smith said: “These themes offer us a chance for the Church to celebrate our story. We have a story to tell that is stronger when we are together. What holds us together is stronger than what pulls us apart.”

In his speech, Mr Smith said that the church needed to rediscover the confidence to share the gospel - what he called ‘the greatest story ever told’.

Affirming the ‘Life Stories’ series of videos, in which people share their stories of faith, he said that the story of numerical decline of the Church was ‘not the whole story but only part of it’.

“Out there today there are people discovering faith for the first time, and people whose faith is deepening as they walk their Christian journey. We know – we have met them.”

The Assembly approved the decision to discontinue the National Youth Assembly (NYA) in its current form after 2019, with proposals on its replacement to be drawn up over the next two years.

Accepting an amendment that the proposals should be drawn up by a committee made up by a majority of young people; Mr Smith said: “If we say we are going to let our young people shape something, we have to let them shape something. We will work with this, we will run with this and it will be something that hopefully is as cherished for the next generation as the NYA is for the current generation.”

Moving the amendment, NYA member (and former clerk) Esther Nisbet said that she would not be a member of the Church of Scotland today if it were not for the NYA, but accepted ‘I understand it is vitally important that we continuously develop’.

Mr Smith also made a commitment that the NYA would not be stopped until there was something in place to replace it.

The Rev Louis Kinsey had a motion passed instructing the Council and other relevant bodies to re-examine the Church’s current rule under which children must be baptised before receiving Communion. Mr Kinsey said that the law was ‘pastorally unhelpful’ in separating baptised and unbaptised children, and that the bar for children sharing in the Lord’s Supper was often higher than that for adults.

He added: “Separating children at times of Holy Communion is unpalatable and unpastoral.”

There was also applause for the Rev Roddy MacLeod, who is retiring shortly has edited Life and Work's Gaelic Supplement since 1980. Mr Smith said: "He has been nothing short of brilliant."

The Rev Hugh Stewart, a Lewis minister, added his tribute to Mr MacLeod, along with his thanks for it being reinstated in paper format: “It’s a great work, greatly appreciated by those who receive it. My own congregation warmly receive it and are very, very encouraged by committee reinstating it in the paper.”

Andrew Macpherson, Moderator of the NYA, said in his speech that last year’s gathering had discussed issues of gender justice, mental health and the future of ministry and Fresh Expressions. He urged the Commissioners to talk to people about mental health, to help remove the stigma around the subject.

In answer to a question about how to attract young people into churches, he suggested that it was important for the Church to try to engage with young people throughout the community.

The morning’s business opened with the report of the Chaplain to HM Forces, during which the Assembly approved the Armed Forces Covenant, which commits the Church to support serving and veteran members of the Armed Forces and their families. The convener, the Rev Gordon Craig assured the Assembly that signing the covenant would have no impact on the Church’s ability to criticise the Government’s defence policies or to oppose nuclear weapons (an assurance backed by the convener of the Church and Society Council, the Rev Dr Richard Frazer).

He also warned that the recruitment of chaplains from within the Church of Scotland was reaching ‘a critical point’, particularly in the RAF, where there are only two Church of Scotland chaplains remaining and one is on her final tour of duty. He said: “If any minister of the Kirk believes they might have the slightest inkling of a call to either full-time or reservist chaplaincy, I would urge them to please test it.”

As ever on ‘Chaplains’ Day’, the Assembly was addressed by a senior member of the Armed Forces, this year Air Marshall Stuart Atha, Deputy Commander Operations at RAF Air Command, who is from Kilmarnock. He said: “We live in uncertain times, and at such times your encouragement, your help to see the light despite the gathering clouds, and your support for servicemen and servicewomen and their families is both needed and treasured.”

The Lord High Commissioner, the Princess Royal, participated in a minute's silence for the victims of the Manchester bombing.

Post Tags: same sex marriage, mission and discipleship, military chaplains

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