wfn.org | Judicial Council says not to act on unconstitutional rules

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May 4, 2000	GC-014

Judicial Council says not to act on unconstitutional rules

CLEVELAND (UMNS) - A United Methodist Judicial Council decision delivered
May 3 warns delegates of the denomination's highest legislative assembly not
to work on specific rules, procedures and policies that were previously
ruled to be in violation of the church's constitution.

Almost 1,000 delegates have gathered May 2-12 to consider the denomination's
policies and practices. The revisions will be compiled along with other
General Conference actions into a new Book of Discipline, which will be
binding for the next four years, beginning Jan. 1, 2001. The book contains
the denomination's rules, regulations, historical documents such as the
church's constitution, and other items.

As the delegates at this General Conference began their consideration of
more than 2,000 different changes in the current text, the conference
Committee on Correlation and Editorial Revision asked the Judicial Council
for guidance regarding language previously declared unconstitutional.

In particular, the committee was concerned about how one of the General
Conference's 10 legislative committees could handle petitions related to
specific passages in the 1996 Book of Discipline. These particular
paragraphs had been nullified by the Judicial Council, the church's supreme
court, at its fall 1997 session. 

At that time, an annual (regional) conference had asked the Judicial Council
several questions about how membership was to be reported under rules
created by the 1996 General Conference to accompany the adoption of a policy
statement about baptism. In its response, the Judicial Council voided
several paragraphs of the 1996 Discipline and reinstituted the comparable
areas of the 1992 edition. Those passages are still in effect.

The council observed that the fourth paragraph of the church's constitution
says that people become members "when they take the appropriate vows."
However, newer paragraphs in the Discipline said membership began at
baptism. The council ruled that language conferring membership on
individuals who could not speak for themselves was banned by the church's
constitution.

This week, in response to the correlation committee's question, the council
ruled that all petitions seeking to amend paragraphs that have been declared
unconstitutional "are out of order and shall not be considered by the 2000
General Conference." 

The council further said that the 2000 General Conference shall not re-adopt
any paragraphs of the 1996 Discipline that have been declared
unconstitutional under Paragraph 4. Council members further reiterated,
"Paragraph 4 of the [church] constitution requires every individual
personally to take the appropriate vows to become a member of a local
church."
# # #
-- Joretta Purdue

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United Methodist News Service
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