EDINBURGH, Scotland, March 23 (UPI) -- The Scottish Episcopal Church said Wednesday homosexuality -- active or inactive -- should have no bearing on whether someone becomes a priest.
In a statement likely to fuel the current tensions in the Anglican Church, the church said it "had never regarded the fact that someone was in a close relationship with a member of the same sex as in itself constituting a bar to the exercise of an ordained ministry."
The position is in contrast to that of the Church of England, which will only ordain homosexuals who are not in a physical relationship.
Anglican leaders have criticized the U.S. Episcopal Church for consecrating Gene Robinson and the Anglican Church of Canada for blessing same-sex unions, asking they withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council for three years.
But the Scottish bishops said the church was "indebted" to "a significant presence of persons of homosexual orientation" and had occasionally blessed same-sex unions.
A spokesman for the Church of England told the BBC clergy should be models of "Christ-like behavior.
"Given the present understanding of active homosexuality it is not an acceptable mode of behavior for someone who is ordained."
