Dismay over John Knox successor

Evangelicals in Scotland have expressed disappointment following the Church of Scotland’s (CofS) “tragic” appointment of Scott Rennie as the minister of St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Rennie, who is married to a man, will now preach from Scotland’s most famous pulpit, once occupied by John Knox, who spearheaded the Scottish Reformation.

Rennie was the national church’s first openly homosexual minister and his appointment as the minister of Queen’s Cross Church, Aberdeen in 2009 kickstarted the church’s debate and eventual change of doctrinal position on gay marriage, with churches formally allowed to call homosexual ministers from 2013 and conduct same-sex marriages from 2022.