The passing of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill today is a blow for society as we know it, as it will result in inevitable consequences that will forever change the landscape of the Scottish society in the years to come, according to the Evangelical Alliance, the largest and oldest body representing more than 750 Christian organisations and two million evangelical Christians across 79 denominations and 3,500 churches in the UK.

"Marriage and the family are the bedrock of society and we should be celebrating and encouraging them, but this legislation does neither. It has redefined marriage into a fluid, gender-neutral institution defined by consumer demands and political expediency, and destroys the God-ordained nucleus for a well functioning society," said Fred Drummond, director of Evangelical Alliance Scotland.

"Marriage has now been effectively privatised to privilege adult choice and the changes have stripped husband and wife of their obvious meaning. At a time in Scotland when we are considering what kind of nation we want to live in, this legislation sends all the wrong signals about the place of marriage and family in modern day Scotland.

"As Christians working in communities across Scotland we will continue to support the true meaning of marriage, as the voluntary union of one man and one woman for life, and the fundamental building block that is for the good of the whole of Scottish society," he added.

Dr Dave Landrum, director of advocacy at the Evangelical Alliance, said that now that the politicians have failed society in this respect, it is up to the Church to model marriage to a society which has forgotten what it is.

"With this state redefinition of marriage we can be sure that Christians and others will face many legal and cultural challenges in coming years. Even so, the new legal context also gives us an opportunity and a responsibility to model and preach what marriage really is.

"Although the law has changed, real marriage is and will always be exclusively a lifelong union between a man and woman. We can acknowledge the fact that the legal definition has changed but we should also understand that we do not need to approve of the legal fiction created.

"We also know that God is not fazed by this, and as Christians we should have confidence to speak and teach the truth with grace and love. And we should help each other sustain marriage as a covenant before God."