wfn.org | Dammann verdict prompts mixed reactions from groups

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 29, 2004	 News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn. 7 E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org 7 ALL-BGLT{139}

NOTE: A photograph of the Rev. Karen Dammann, along with full coverage of the
trial and aftermath, are available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Amy Green*

The acquittal of a lesbian clergywoman in a United Methodist church trial has
sparked both criticism and praise from unofficial advocacy groups, as some
celebrate the verdict while others blast it as "schismatic."
 
The March 20 acquittal of the Rev. Karen Dammann of Ellensburg, Wash., led
some groups to call for a reprimand of church leaders in the region. Others,
however, said the verdict should push United Methodists to focus instead on
Christian unity and tolerance.
 
The trial's outcome "points to the deep and painful divisions that exist
within our denomination," said the Rev. Kathryn Johnson of the Methodist
Federation for Social Action, a group that supported the verdict. "As the
news of the 'not guilty' verdict spread across the country ... tears of
rejoicing and relief were shed and prayers of thanks uttered. At the very
same moment, others were shedding tears of grief and pain as they tried to
deal with feelings of shock and betrayal." 

The denomination put Dammann, a Seattle-area pastor, on trial after she
acknowledged her longtime homosexual relationship. While church law prohibits
the ordination of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals," a jury of 13 of her
peers found Dammann innocent of the single charge against her, that of 
"practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with
Christian teachings."

Groups disappointed in the decision directed some of their criticism at the
denomination's Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference and Western
Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction, one of the church's five U.S. regions, is
viewed as being more liberal on social issues than other parts of the church,
particularly in comparison with the denomination's Southeastern and South
Central areas.
 
The Confessing Movement said that by the actions of the jury, the Pacific
Northwest Conference has become "schismatic."
 
"This nullification of church law ... must not be allowed to stand," the
group said in a statement. "The clergy jury have broken covenant with the
church and failed to live up to their ordination vows." 
 
The verdict came a month before General Conference, the church's largest
legislative assembly held every four years. Nearly 1,000 delegates from
across the globe will gather in Pittsburgh on April 27-May 7 to make laws for
the denomination. 

The Confessing Movement suggested that delegates consider a way to allow
"those in the Western Jurisdiction - and the rest of the church for that
matter - who are not willing to keep and live by the covenants of the church
... to amicably depart from the denomination with their property and clergy
retirement benefits secured."

The Good News organization argued the verdict puts the church "in the midst
of one of its most serious crises in more than a decade." That group, too,
described the verdict as "schismatic" and called on United Methodists to
voice their dismay to church leaders, and General Conference delegates to
consider a censure of Pacific Northwest church leaders.  
 
"The United Methodist Church cannot continue with any sense of unity with
these kinds of destructive irregularities tearing at the heart, soul and
conscience of the church," Good News said in a statement.
 
The ecumenical Institute on Religion and Democracy condemned the verdict as
"farcical."
 
"Every United Methodist General Conference since 1972 has declared homosexual
practice to be incompatible with Christian teaching," said Mark Tooley, a
spokesman for the group. "Yet a jury of 13 clergy decided the church in fact
has no position on the topic."	
 
However, Johnson, executive director of the Methodist Federation for Social
Action, cheered the verdict. The group has submitted a petition urging
General Conference to delete a reference in the church's Social Principles to
homosexuality being incompatible with Christian teaching and to acknowledge
instead the differences that exist in the denomination "among faithful
Christians." "We stand before God admitting that we have thus far been unable
to reach common ground," the group's suggested wording says.
 
This confession is necessary for the church to move forward on the issue,
Johnson said. 
 
"The question should not be which side will 'win' but rather how to address
the deep divisions in the body of the church," she said. 
 
Others echoed that sentiment. Troy Plummer, executive director of the
Reconciling Ministries Network - a group pushing for broader inclusion of
gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in the denomination - found
the verdict an affirmation of diversity that should be celebrated. 

The Rev. Peggy R. Gaylord, spokeswoman for Affirmation, a group working to
make the denomination more inclusive to all, summed her feelings up simply.
 
"We just really deplore any efforts to exclude to any degree any group from
participation from life in the church," she said. "I just think that ... a
fundamental message of Christ is that the church is open to all. We get hung
up on doctrine. ... The doctrine was not what Jesus was about." 
# # #
*Green is a freelance journalist based in Nashville, Tenn. 

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org