Scottish church approves gay moratorium

EDINBURGH, Scotland, May 26 (UPI) -- The Church of Scotland has approved a two-year moratorium on homosexual ministers and a ban on open discussion of the issue.

The vote Monday night came two days after the church's General Assembly approved the admission of an openly gay minister by a 326-267 vote, The Times of London reported. The moratorium does not affect Scott Rennie's appointment to Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen.

A panel of church leaders is to spend two years studying the issue, preparing a report for the 2011 General Assembly.

The motion for the moratorium and commission came after the Presbytery of Lochcarron and Skye introduced a call to define marriage as only between men and women. The Rev. Angus Morrison of St. Columba Church in Stornoway, convener of the Church of Scotland Mission and Discipleship Council, seconded the moratorium motion.

"It is comparatively easy to split a church but the challenge of healing the divisions, so-thought, is of an entirely different nature altogether," he said.

The Rev. Ian Watson, a leader in the anti-gay Forward Together movement, called for an immediate decision on gay ministers, saying his side is "tired of the debate."