One of the largest Church of Scotland congregations has overwhelmingly voted in favour of formally breaking away in the wake of the gay clergy row.
Of the 385 members and adherents of the High Church in Stornoway on Lewis who voted, 313 indicated they wanted to leave the Kirk.
They were told the result of the secret ballot called by their kirk session yesterday. It asked whether they wished to quit the Church of Scotland and join another denomination.
There were 456 people eligible to vote. Among the 206 members there was a near 90% vote in favour of leaving while among the 179 adherents it fell to 72.6%. Only 72 people voted to remain with the Church of Scotland.
High Church treasurer Neil Galbraith said that the vote was a strong indication of how people felt. “It is a very clear position as far as the members are concerned and overall more than 80% of those who voted have indicated they want to leave,” he said.
“It is part of a process. The session will carefully consider the results and a congregational meeting will be held in due course.” Those who voted against leaving the Church of Scotland, or who abstained, will now face switching to another church if the High Church does quit the Kirk.
“You cannot leave the church as a congregation, you leave as an individual,” stressed Mr Galbraith.
The deadline for the return of ballot papers was extended to last Friday , but because the next church services clashed with Armistice Sunday, it was decided, out of respect, not to announce the vote until yesterday.
In June more than 200 members of the church, the largest Church of Scotland congregation in the Western Isles, backed the split.
The congregation has been unhappy at the way the Church of Scotland has handled the issue of the ordination of gay ministers.
The move is in protest at the decision by the General Assembly to allow the ordination of openly-gay ministers if this has the support of the congregation.
At its General Assembly in May, the Church of Scotland voted to uphold its historic doctrine on same-sex relationships but to also consider a policy of permitting individual congregations to choose ministers in same-sex relationships.
The ordaining of ministers in same-sex relationships has divided the Kirk since traditionalist members attempted to block the appointment of Scott Rennie, who is gay, to Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen in 2009.