The unctuously pious have been defeated, for the time being at least, in their attempt to pass sanctimonious judgement on the Reverend Scott Rennie who, with the overwhelming backing of a happy congregation, was appointed minister for Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen.

So what was the problem?

Well, he is gay. Oops.

To add insult to injury, not only is he gay, he is openly gay. It is enough to give you the vapours.

Christian fundamentalists do not mess around. You are not allowed to be gay. Period.

Christians who like to think of themselves as more mainstream have a different take. It seems to go along the lines of: OK, be gay if you must, but for goodness sake have the decency to lie about it.

They are prepared to "tolerate" people who are gay and show them the Lord's "compassion". Yuk.

But, as last weekend's debate at the General Assembly has shown, there are increasing numbers of Christians who, like their predecessors who challenged the Bible's unstinting support for slavery, interpret the Bible's pronouncements as relating to circumstances that, with the passage of a couple of thousand years, are now entirely different.

All the evidence is that our sexuality is hard-wired into us; it cannot be taught or caught. Whether that operates through DNA coding, hormones we are exposed to in the womb or some other mechanism is of little consequence.

People do not choose their sexuality; it is assigned to them. They grow up knowing what their sexuality is from an early age.

Being gay is as natural as being straight. It is just a little less common. There are minorities of gay people in every society in the world. An unnatural society would be one with no gay members.

There is no evidence that people can successfully change their sexuality.

Are you straight? Close your eyes and imagine what inducements you would need to make you gay. A large sum of money? Threats of severe punishment?

You could pretend to be gay but there is no act of will that can make you completely and permanently change your sexual attractions. The very suggestion is absurd.

Most people who have "changed" are people like the Reverend Rennie. Raised by conservative evangelical Christian parents he never dared tell anyone about his sexuality. The culture around him told him he had two choices: be celibate or marry a woman.

He married a woman. It did not work. It rarely does. And so, after his marriage had broken down and his mother had died he stopped pretending to be someone he was not and started living as himself. He is in a loving, committed relationship with another man.

If you believe we were created by a god, then I would suggest you have to accept that God deliberately created people who are straight and people who are gay.

That is unless you believe God's simply an incompetent fool who created people with different sexualities in every civilisation on the planet entirely by mistake.

Some say it is a test. People who are gay pass the test if they marry people of the opposite sex or stay celibate.

Hey — who said God does not have a sense of humour? What a spiffing wheeze (though admittedly, not if you happen to be gay). But then, I guess God has to do something to while away the dark hours of eternity.

But why should people who are gay have to pass a test while it all just comes naturally to those of us who are straight?

Jesus Himself, of course, had not a single word to say on the subject of homosexuality.

Scott Rennie was confirmed as minister for Queen's Cross Church. But the "overture" on sexual relationships outside marriage was kicked into the long grass for a couple of years, the 15 years they've already spent "reflecting" on human sexuality notwithstanding.

Those who want to continue the vile vendetta against people who happen to be gay are simply bullies. And the Church should face down the bullies, not kow-tow to them.

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