The Kirk is facing the threat of a damaging split over the issue of same-sex civil partnerships, with ministers warning they are prepared to quit for their principles.
Observers fear the dispute could lead to an irretrievable breakdown at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland next week.
The issue of whether ministers should be allowed to conduct blessings of gay couples was discussed at last year's assembly and a proposal from the floor was made to ban the disciplining of ministers who carried out such blessings.
The motion was then put to the Kirk's 45 presbyteries but they voted overwhelmingly to reject such a ban, with 36 voted to punish ministers who conduct the blessings.
The pattern of voting by individual members of the presbyteries indicated the split, with 1563 members voting against a ban on disciplinary action and 1007 voting in favour. Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Greenock and Paisley were among the presbyteries who voted for.
The vote goes before the General Assembly next week and if it accepts the findings it is believed some presbyteries might regard it as giving them the power to discipline those who choose to carry out the blessings.
In a move which could ultimately force him out of the ministry, The Herald's columnist Ron Ferguson, former minister at St Magnus Cathedral, has pledged to continue to carry out the ceremonies.
"I fully recognise the right of churches to discipline their clergy and I will accept the inevitable consequences of my decision," he said.
Several others, including Ewan Aitken, leader of the Labour group on Edinburgh City Council, who was a minister until becoming a full-time politician, are taking the same stance.
Mr Aitken said: "I will continue to offer same-sex couples the opportunity to have a blessing by a clergyman and if the church wishes to discipline me they can try to do so.
"The affirmation of love and fidelity before God is more important than church rules. I don't know that there would be the stomach to discipline those who continue with blessings."
The Rev Peter Johnston, spokesman for OneKirk, a network of people striving for an "inclusive, affirming and progressive church", said there was nothing due to go before the assembly which would bring about a definite ban.
"The idea was that the uncertainly which existed last year should be cleared up but that has not happened and we are back to the status quo. No presbytery has in the past disciplined a minister for conducting a blessing ceremony.
"It is possible some presbyteries may now discipline. It is almost a post-code lottery on where you are."
The Rev Bob Brown, of Aberdeen, spokesman for Affirmation Scotland, which seeks to offer "a ministry of care, hope and advocacy to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians, their families and supporters", said the two sides in the debate were polarised.
"You are either for it or against it," he said. "It is quite a divisive issue but the church has always found itself in this sort of situation.
"I am hoping the way out will be both sides agreeing to respect the other's position and carry on. That is the best you are going to get.
"But people who feel very strongly against it tend to want to make that the ruling for the whole church. It depends how aggressive they become and how much support they can drum up for it."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article