MEMBERS of a despicable little alliance of Christian bigots called Forward Together is licking its wounds after its spectacular failure to prevent the Church of Scotland voting for a gay priest at the weekend.
Posturing nitwit the Rev Ian Watson
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland voted in support of the Reverend Scott Rennie whose appointment earlier this year to a congregation in Aberdeen sent a tremor of horror through the ranks of Forward Together, which opposes the recognition of gay people in the life, work and ministry of the church – and probably in every other walk life as well.
Mind you, the Rev Ian Watson, who heads FT, did his cause no favours when he attempted to equate the Church’s push for inclusion with Nazism.
In a sermon which religious leaders and politicians have condemned as “deeply disturbing”, Watson invoked the failure to stand up to the Nazi annexation of the Rhineland in 1938 as a parallel for the refusal of many in the Church of Scotland to join his anti-gay crusade.
The sermon, according to Ekklesia, was delivered last Sunday at Kirkmuirhill Church in Lanark and then posted on Mr Watson’s blog.
FT has had to apologise to Rennie after it wrongly claimed that he had left his wife to set up home with his partner.
A range of Church of Scotland ministers had signed a petition calling for a ban on the appointment of gay clergy, and a motion had been put forward saying that the Church should not:
Train, ordain, admit, readmit, induct or introduce to any ministry of the church anyone involved in a sexual relationship outside of marriage between a man and woman.
Rev Scott Rennie
Rennie spent nine years as minister at Brechin Cathedral, before applying for the post at Queen’s Cross parish, where he now serves. He was elected by 86 per cent of the church’s congregation, a vote ratified by the Presbytery of Aberdeen in January 2009.
After the vote one of Mr Rennie’s supporters, Brian Kerr, read a statement on the priest’s behalf:
The Church of Scotland is a community of faith gathered around God’s living word and God calls people of many different hues and colours in to his service. In a broad and national church there is more than enough room for us all.
Reverend Sharon Ferguson of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement says she is delighted by the news.
At last there has been some sense that’s been shown here. What we actually have is an upholding the decision by the Church to appoint somebody because they are the right person for the post, because they are the person that they feel has been called by God.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
May 25th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
So according to Watson, its wrong to have a relationship with a consenting member of the same sex?
So the thing to do is supress your natural urges and take it out on underage children under you care ala RC priests?
May 25th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
It is a pity that these little tiffs between the various godidiots don't get wider coverage in the mainstream media. How ridiculous and irrelevant must their views on sexuality be to today's generation of teens and twenty-somethings. I really can't understand why any gay person would want to associate with such people, why doesn't Rev. Rennie tell them all to go and get stuffed? I suppose it would mean that he would have to go and get a proper job.
May 25th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I don't know if Forward Together are linked to the Anglican group Forward in Faith (or Backwards in Bemusement, as I've labelled them when piss-taking in the local press), but if so they not only dislike gays but women…and indeed most of the rest of the population!
One of the funniest F in F stories I heard concerned a local rep whose supporters somehow forgot to mention to the national body that she had Alzheimers. She served for several years without anyone noticing, which tells you what kind of loons we're dealing with.
May 25th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Mormon president David O. McKay suffered from Alzheimer's for several years before his death in 1970 at the age of 97. His condition was never made public, and the reason I know about it is that his dealings with my then-employer, a prominent entertainer who became a Mormon for economic reasons and quit when they demanded a quid pro quo, made it transparently clear. He made a deal to encourage Mormons to attend the entertainer's performances, and later wrote a letter to all regional bishops instructing them not to do so, not out of any disenchantment or change of attitude, but because he had no recollection of ever meeting the entertainer or promising him anything. Either the LDS council were unaware of his condition, or consciously suppressed it. Either way, the existence of a president with Alzheimer's is one more proof that Mormonism has no protector in the sky watching out for its welfare.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
They call themselves Forward Together yet they're trying to stay ever in the Dark Ages. How typical.
It's not a wonder these fools are becoming more irrelevant all the time. They're so obsessed with peoples' genitals and what they do with them rather than things that really matter.
May 26th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
The Rev Ian Watson looks like the Rev Scott Rennie's dad!
May 26th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I heard that fuckwit, idiot anti gay twat. Every word in the bible is true. That is our guide. Why doesn't some interviewer slap some really bad bits in front of him.
May 27th, 2009 at 6:16 am
It is a pity that these little tiffs between the various godidiots don’t get wider coverage in the mainstream media. How ridiculous and irrelevant must their views on sexuality be to today’s generation of teens and twenty-somethings. I really can’t understand why any gay person would want to associate with such people, why doesn’t Rev. Rennie tell them all to go and get stuffed? I suppose it would mean that he would have to go and get a proper job.