Church of Scotland opposes gay marriage

The Church of Scotland announced Thursday it opposes a proposal to legalize same-sex marriages in the country.The Kirk, the church's familiar name, released a statement saying marriage should be reserved for the union of a man and a woman, The Scotsman reported. The Catholic Church also opposes same-sex marriage, which now has Scotland's two largest religious groups allied against it."To redefine marriage to include same-sex marriage may have significant and, as yet, inadequately considered repercussions for our country, for the well being of families, communities and individuals," the statement said.The governing Scottish National Party has proposed allowing gay men and women to marry their partners.The Kirk has been struggling with how to deal with homosexuality. In 2009, after an Aberdeen church ordained a minister in a committed same-sex relationship, the General Assembly voted to allow open gays already serving as ministers to do so, while postponing a decision on training homosexuals for the clergy.The Rev. John Mann, minister at St. James Parish Church in Glasgow, said he disagrees with the statement on marriage."They speak for the formal ecclesiastical, institutional structure, but it is a broad church," he said. "The Church is slow to change, but I would rather it said welcome to one and all. I would be happy to perform marriages between loving people, who happened to be of the same sex."