The Kirk’s typical compromise on gay ministers might just work

I EXPECT we will hear a lot about a “mixed economy” in the Church of Scotland over the next few years as it attempts to find a way to allow those who are happy to accept homosexuals into the ministry and those opposed to it to co-exist in one denomination (“Kirk facing backlash after vote to allow gay ministers”, The Herald, May 21 & Letters, May 22).

Before anyone gets carried away with the newness of this proposal, let’s remember we already have a mixed economy in the Kirk on a range of issues, and it has been that way for at least the past 150 years. To give one example: while most congregations have female elders and many have female ministers, there are some churches that have never ordained any female elders and for whom the idea of a female minister would be impossible to countenance. No-one seems to mind a mixed economy in which there are congregations who opt out of the Kirk’s position that all offices should be open to men and women.

The real dividing issue that lies behind so many of the other differences of view and practice in the Kirk is the Bible. Though a generalisation, the conservative wing of the church understands it is the Christian’s duty to believe and submit to the authority of the Bible as it is the infallible written Word of God. This has a tendency to solidify doctrine and ethics as a fixed body of truth and right actions for all time.

The liberal wing of the church sees the Bible as a record of the experiences of God’s people, bound by the times it was written in, and not necessarily infallible in the views it records. This has a tendency to keep doctrine and ethics more fluid, an evolving body of truth and right actions that can be changed over time in line with new insights, spiritual experiences and changes in society.

The acceptance of these broad views is the true mixed economy the Kirk has accepted for more than 100 years. There is nothing new in this, except that the conservative wing is probably larger now than it has been at any time since 1843.

The debate over homosexual ordination is one example of the deeper fissure that divides the conservative and liberal viewpoints. Though there is a great divide between these views, it is one of the miracles of Presbyterianism that the people who hold them can remain together and work together in one body. When viewed in that light, the solution that has been found is a typical Church of Scotland compromise that just might work out. I WAS wondering what the chances are of the R&A following the Church of Scotland’s lead on self interpretation of the rule book.