The Church of Scotland has been accused of the “systematic dismantling of the true gospel” over the ordination of homosexual ministers.
Revd Paul Gibson, who left over the issue, says the Kirk is pursuing an “erroneous liberal agenda”.
In 2011 the Church’s General Assembly voted in favour of allowing homosexual men and lesbians to serve as church ministers.
Impossible
Mr Gibson says the Assembly’s decisions have placed many of the Church’s ministers and elders “in an impossible position”.
Speaking to The Scotsman the 39-year-old said: “I was baptised in the Church of Scotland, I grew up in the Kirk and continue to have many dear friends who remain in the church, so I think I speak for those who have left in recent years that it is with great pain and upset that we’ve felt the need to withdraw and move on.
“It’s not with any sense of bravado or anything like that. But it’s sadly the case that after many years of liberalism and political-style manoeuvring, the Church of Scotland has reached a point where the only thing that’s not tolerated is Biblical orthodoxy.”
Ordained
Mr Gibson has now joined the Free Church of Scotland.
The General Assembly’s decision to allow homosexual men and lesbians to serve as church ministers applies to clergy who have declared their homosexuality and were ordained before May 2009.
The future ordination and training of gay and lesbian clergy will be decided in 2013 when a theological commission publishes a report on the matter.