Look south

The report from the Kirk’s 
Theological Commission on gay issues (your report, 17 April) is an elegant preamble which makes a cogent case for 
reform but hesitates to advocate a course of action.

It notes the discontinuity between Old and New Testaments, the need to cherry-pick the old laws and the biblical writers’
ignorance of such concepts as sexual orientation.

Dismissing the option of 
requiring some clergy to be 
celibate, it suggests equal treatment for all and even supplies a model order of service for blessing a civil partnership.

What happens now depends on the make up of this year’s General Assembly and yet an occurrence of far more importance is New Zealand’s decision to back equal marriage.

It is not widely recognised that Scotland almost always follows New Zealand’s lead in social and political reform including such areas as female suffrage and open adoption.

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews