A Church of Scotland minister in the Highlands is leave the Kirk over its vote on gay and lesbian clergy. News comes in today that the Reverend Roddy MacRae has said he would stand down as minister of Glenelg and Kintail in the next few months, allowing time for a new minister to be found.
Gay and lesbian people being ordained in the church was the controversial issue debated at the Kirk's General Assembly. It was on Monday, that it voted to allow the possible selection of gay and lesbian ministers in future, although a further report on the issue is two years away.
A theological commission will now be set up and will report in 2013, before a final decision on the issue of gay ordination is taken. Earlier the Assembly had voted to accept gay and lesbian clergy provided they had declared their sexuality and were ordained before 2009.
This was when a temporary ban was imposed following the appointment of the Church of Scotland's first openly gay minister, the Reverend Scott Rennie.
The Reverend Thomas Mackinnon resigned in protest at that decision
This is good news for not only equality of gay and lesbian people, but also for the church as a whole. For way too long now the church as been seen as a slow to change, archaic out dated institution that was becoming irrelevant in modern society.
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