Same-sex vote has ‘killed the Church of Scotland’

The Church of Scotland as peopleknowit is nowdead, according to a north-east minister.

The Rev Louis Kinsey, of St Columba’sChurchinAberdeen, said a decision to give congregations the freedom to appoint ministers in same-sex relationships was a vote for “chaos and uncertainty”.

He added t hat t he supreme rule of the Church was no longer scripture and that a so-called mixed economy proposal, backed by the General Assembly last Monday, was a “recipe for anarchy”.

Mr Kinsey, sharing his views on his personal blog, revealed that people had left his congregation over the issue in recent years, but he would continue to serve as a minister as long as the Kirk’s courts “do not require me to compromise my loyalty to the Lord of the Church”.

The General Assembly voted to back a motion tabled at the 11th hour by immediate past moderator the Very Rev Albert Bogle – an evangelical minister – which was aimed at reaching a compromise and keeping the Kirk together.

It ensures t hat t he Church maintains its traditional position – opposition to gay clergy – while providing an opt-out clause to allow liberal-minded congregations to appoint homosexuals if they wish.

The proposal will be sub- ject to Kirk presbytery scrutiny and has a number of hurdles to cross before being approved in 2015 at the earliest.

The Rev Scott Rennie, of Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen – whose appointment in 2009 sparked the debate – claimed the breakthrough was historic, very wise and would allow the Kirk “to live and work together”.

But Mr Kinsey, who has been at St Columba’s since 1991, said he was “staggered” that an evangelical minister brought the proposal forward. He claimed there was “no biblical warrant for it and it made no intellectual sense”.

He added: “Something has died and I think it is the Church of Scotland as we have known it.”