Faith groups in Scotland call for gay marriage

{jcomments off}Faith groups in Scotland have formed a coalition to call on the Scottish parliament to legalise gay marriage but notably the group does not include the Catholic Church or the Church of Scotland.

At the moment the SNP led Scottish government is carrying out a public consultation on legalising gay marriage in the country. The very prospect of gay marriage has alarmed the Scottish Catholic Church was has been very vocal – and offensive – in its opposition to such a move.

Trying to use scare-mongering tactics the Catholic Church has said the SNP risks losing the support of 800,000 people if it pushes ahead with plans to legalise gay marriage. That flies in the face of a recent survey in Scotland which showed public support for gay marriage was at 61%. The outspoken attacks by the Church has led to anti-gay comments such as “(gay marriage is a) grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”

However, not all faith groups in Scotland are opposed to gay marriage and a coalition of faiths are now calling on the SNP government to legalise such unions. The group consists of Unitarians, Liberal Jews, Quakers, the Metropolitan Church the Pagan Federation. Quakers have long been supporters gay rights and have called for gay marriage for some years now.

Meanwhile south of the border the Westminster Parliament, led by David Cameron, has announced plans for a public consultation on “how” to legalise gay marriage in England. The consultation won’t take place until next marriage and will only be on civil marriages and not religious ones.