EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM – A coalition of faith groups in Scotland has roundly condemned the religious ban on marriage equality as “discriminatory,” claiming that it “reinforces homophobia.”

Faith in Marriage—which includes members of the United Reformed Church, the Quakers, the Unitarians, Liberal Judaism, the Humanists, the Iona Community, Buddhists, the Open Episcopal Church, the Metropolitan Community Church and the Pagan Federation—has initiated a campaign to convince the Scottish Parliament to lift the country’s ban on religious same-sex marriage. In addition to the groups named above, the organization has the support of clergy from the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church.

The letter, copies of which were distributed by Faith in Marriage representatives to Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), called for an end to the prohibition and demanded the right to perform gay marriages. “We believe that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people should be entitled to full equality under the law, and that the current ban on same-sex marriage is discriminatory and reinforces homophobia in society,” it read.

Echoed Rev. Scott McKenna, a Church of Scotland minister from Edinburgh: “In opposing equality, churches reinforce homophobia in society and that can lead to pain, low self-respect and, in some cases, violence. In the end this is about people who are on the receiving end of prejudice and are suffering because of that. The cycle needs to be broken.”

The letter says that the organization and its members will “strongly oppose” any efforts to limit same-sex marriage to civil ceremonies. Faith in Marriage is calling for MSPs to “protect and extend” freedom of religion and faith by “giving those religious and humanist bodies that do want to conduct same-sex marriage the right to do so” in future legislation.

Faith in Marriage’s campaign follows on the heels of an anti-gay marriage initiative from opponents Scotland for Marriage, a coalition that includes members of the United Free Church of Scotland, the Church of Scotland, the Evangelical Alliance in Scotland, CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) for Scotland, The Christian Institute, the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches in Scotland, and the Christian Brethren in Scotland.

It also has the support of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. The group claims that marriage equality will “dismantle marriage which has only ever meant the union of a man and a woman.”