The Church of Scotland has issued a fresh warning that ministers could be sued for refusing to wed gay couples.
In a report due to be considered by the church's general assembly next month, officials have warned the organisation could be "vulnerable to legal challenge" due to possible discrimination under the European Convention of Human Rights.
The report by the Church's Legal Questions Committee (LQC) says: "The scheme enables bodies, such as the Church of Scotland, and individual celebrants to be authorised to conduct different sex marriages while at the same time refraining from seeking authorisation to conduct same sex marriages.
"This legal structure may be argued to be discriminatory contrary to Articles 12 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights."
There are discussions the Church could potentially pull out of solemnising all marriages, but the report argues that this would "rob ministers of one significant and evangelical opportunity" as marriages are an "important aspect of their ministry".
Concerns were also raised that any legal challenges could cause "financial" and "reputational" damages to the Church and any individual ministers involved if a case was upheld.
Legislation for same sex marriage came into force in December, which the Scottish Government says protects those who do not wish to conduct ceremonies.
But the LQC argues that if a legal challenge to the scheme was successful it would be repealed and likely replaced with a system where those who wish to carry out different sex marriages must also oversee same sex marriages.
The report adds: "It might mean the exclusion of churches which are unwilling to instruct their clergy to conduct same sex marriages from an important part of the life of the nation."
A recent Scottish Social Attitudes Survey showed 68 per cent of people supported same sex marriages.
The Kirk's official policy is opposition to gay marriage and would have to change its rules to give ministers and deacons the choice to conduct ceremonies.
In its conclusion, the LQC report said: "The Church and Society Council recognises the important social and pastoral role played by ministers and deacons in relation to marriages, and welcomes the commitment of the Scottish Government in seeking to maintain that role in changed circumstances.
"The Council therefore supports the conclusion that this should continue unless and until the intended safeguards prove inadequate."
In 2008, the Christian owners of a bed and breakfast in Cornwall refused to allow two gay men to stay in a double room at their guesthouse. They were forced to pay £3,600 in damages to the men in a case backed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We have established a robust legal framework so that the position of religious bodies who do not wish to take part in same sex marriage is fully respected."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article