ABSTRACT
Criticism of the churches' position emerged initially from the United Presbyterian clergy. Under the influence of European romanticism, sections of the United Presbyterian Church championed the case for a more liberal society that explored the fusion between religious and scientific truth. From the 1870s, attempts to legalise marriage with a deceased wife's sister (MDWS) became more frequent. They continued to be the product of private member initiatives from marriage practices of predominantly landed backgrounds, which left them open to allegations that they were designed to serve the interests of only one privileged section of society. Religion was of central importance to Victorian political culture, as politics was perceived to serve moral objectives. While the scriptural basis for opposing MDWS was never abandoned by all of the Presbyterian clergy, its influence within the debate waned as the century progressed. MDWS would subsequently become more political in nature while church opinion, in Scotland at least, became less called for and less respected.
