The people of Scotland should be allowed to decide whether they want marriage to be redefined, the former leader of the Scottish National Party has said.
Gordon Wilson – who led the party from 1979 to 1990 – is now Chairman of Dundee-based Christian group, Solas.
The group’s Director is Revd David Robertson of the Free Church of Scotland. Together, Mr Wilson and Revd Robertson are calling for a referendum.
Peril
At the moment the Scottish Government, controlled by the SNP, is holding a public consultation on whether to redefine marriage.
Solas published its response to the consultation, saying no government has the right to redefine marriage and that doing so would destroy marriage.
It said: “You attack the building block of society at your peril”, adding: “this decision should be put to a referendum of the Scottish people”.
Favour
The Scottish Government says its initial view is that it favours introducing homosexual marriage, but it will listen to all opinions before reaching a decision.
The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has written to all its parishes, urging all Roman Catholics to oppose redefining marriage. And it has prepared 100,000 campaign postcards.
A Scottish government spokesman said: “We have given an assurance that all opinions will be listened to, no final views have been reached and therefore no decisions have been taken.
Views
“Our initial view is that same sex marriage should be introduced in Scotland but that faith groups and their celebrants should not be obliged to solemnise same sex marriages.
“We welcome all submissions to the consultation, from the diverse range of views in Scotland.”