Scottish Minister Compares Equal Treatment of Same-Sex Marriage to Pedophilia

By Brittney R. Villalva, Christian Post Reporter Monday, December 12, 2011

Gay marriage activists are outraged at a church minister who has compared same-sex marriage to pedophilia in a statement made on the BBC’s “Call Kaye” radio show.

Rev James Gracie of the Free Church of Scotland called the legislation for same-sex marriage “a direct attack on the Christian faith and the Bible.”

He also compared the equal treatment of gay-marriage to the equal treatment of “pedophiles and polygamists stating that the difficulty with arguing equality is that “people are not treated equally.”

Consultations concerning gay marriage came to a close Dec. 9 as groups on both sides made their last attempts to be heard. Although same civil unions are already legal under Scottish law, the Scottish National Party has pursued legislation that would allow gay marriage within churches.

St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow alongside organizations like The Equality Network and Amnesty International, have all supported the new legislation changes.

The Scottish government also stated that it “tends towards the view” of redefining marriage that has stood for thousands of years previously to accommodate the recent calls to include same-sex marriages.

Derek Ogg explained to the U.K.’s Daily Record that, “It is not just a question of (homosexuals) respecting themselves and their own relationships. It is about the community respecting those relationships.”

However mainstream religious organizations that include the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church, have strongly opposed the legislation and expressed concern with the government for moving too quickly on the controversial legislation.

According to BBC, the Scottish government received about 50,000 responses to gay marriage consultations, the largest it had ever seen.

Rev Gracie responded to criticism accusing him of being homophobic, saying: “If I’ve unnecessarily offended someone then I do apologize, but I’m not going to back off from holding my views.”