wfn.org | Homosexuality Cited In Dialogue As Threatening Schism

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CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally              (10-21-28-71B){103}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	  Feb. 23, 1998

NOTE: This story may used as a sidebar with UMNS story #102.
The full text of the "In Search of Unity" document will be released by
United Methodist News Service as soon as it is available, probably March
2. Check our World Wide Web site:  http://www.umc.org.umns.html

Homosexuality cited by dialogue participants
as one of major issues threatening schism in church

	DALLAS (UMNS)-- Issues related to homosexuality represent a
fundamental challenge "so deep as to harbor the danger of explicit
disunity or schism" in the church, according to a document developed
here Feb. 19-20 during the second of two United Methodist theological
dialogues.
	Participants worked on a draft of the paper, titled "In Search
of Unity," and sent it to a four-member steering committee for final
editing. The full text of the document of more than a dozen pages will
be released early in March.
	Several of the 23 dialogue participants resisted using
homosexuality as an illustration of disunity and possible schism.
Others, however, insisted it remain.
	"We're all weary of being preoccupied with the issue of
homosexuality, but that is the issue the church is preoccupied with, and
to ignore that is to ignore what is going on out there in the church,"
said the Rev. Maxie Dunnam, president of Asbury Theological Theological
Seminary, Wilmore, Ky.
	The Rev. Gregory Stover, a pastor in Cincinnati, said
homosexuality is not a "bedrock issue, but from a practical perspective
it is the most divisive at this particular time."
	John Gardner, a layman from LaCrosse, Wis., warned against
seeking unity by "watering down or papering over our differences."
	One participant suggested that a call be made for a moratorium
on legislation related to homosexuality at the church's next General
Conference in the year 2000. The Rev. Philip Wogaman, a pastor in
Washington, said he would support such a moratorium if all legislation
related to homosexuality, which began at the 1972 General Conference,
could be removed.
	Finally, consensus was reached with an explanatory statement in
the paper, which says: "We believe we may experience substantive
disagreement around a variety of theological faith; the meaning of the
incarnation; and our views of the saving work of Christ, to name a few.
	"All these arise out of differing understanding of Scriptural
authority and revelation. However, in this document, we have turned to
the practice of homosexuality as illustrative of our divergence because
it is one of the most visible presenting issues in United Methodism
today."
	The introduction to the same section of the paper acknowledges
there is no easy way to describe factors that threaten disunity or
schism.  
"Some think that naming them either helps bring them into existence or
magnifies them," the paper states. "Others are deeply convinced that we
face a formidable set of problems, which must be named and described as
best we can. For them, failure to name and describe is not just a
failure of nerve; it may be an unacknowledged or deliberately concealed
strategy for excluding the voice of a significant number of people.
Clearly, we enter deep and troubled waters at this juncture."
	Much time during the two-day dialogue was spent working on the
paper. The steering committee preparing the final draft are Dunnam; the
Rev. Billy Abraham, a faculty member at Perkins School of Theology at
Southern Methodist University in Dallas; the Rev. Linda Thomas, a
faculty member at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary in Evanston, Ill.,; and
the Rev. Donald Messer, president of Iliff School of Theology in Denver.
	The practice of homosexuality is explored in the paper along
with different understandings of Scriptural authority and revelation,
and boundaries of the church.
	Characteristic of the paper, both viewpoints are given on the
full admission of homosexuals to the church's orders and rites.
	"Those who see no barrier . . . believe this to be consistent
with Christian teaching, or required by the love and compassion
expressed by Christ in the Bible. They believe that this is what the
Word of God, or God's definitive revelation, or what the church's
interpretation of Scripture supports. The precious words and actions of
our Lord and Savior compel them to support these practices.
	"Those who oppose the admission of homosexuals . . . see this as
inconsistent with Christian teaching," the paper states. "They believe
themselves to be either explicitly or implicitly forbidden by Scripture
or by the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ as reliably witnessed in
Scripture to accept these perspectives.
"From their point of view, to accept or condone these practices would be
to undermine the authority of Scripture and of Christ. It would be to
reject the healing authority of the Word of God, or of God's definitive
revelation, or of scripture in the church."
	Turning to the disagreement over boundaries of the church,
particularly about homosexuality, the paper describes "compatibilists"
as those who believe that the diversity of points of view can remain
together within the denomination.
"Incompatibilists" are described as those who are convinced that the
points of view as they understand them are in such conflict that it is
unfaithful, impractical, or unadvisable to continue with the same
denomination.
	In a section on sustaining unity and avoiding schism, the
participants say: "Foremost in the preservation of unity is the love of
Jesus Christ and the active presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts
and in the life of the church as a whole. . . This is not a pious
comment, but a lasting judgment derived from our conviction that it is
God who holds us together in the church and not we ourselves."
	The paper recommends that United Methodists read the writings of
John Wesley, founder of Methodism, particularly his sermons "On Schism,"
"A Caution Against Bigotry" and "Catholic Spirit."
	The closing section of the paper quotes from Wesley's sermon on
schism, given March 30, 1786: "It is far easier to prevent the flame (of
schism) from breaking out than to quench it afterwards."
	United Methodists are also encouraged to explore "the history of
our tradition, as of the wider Christian tradition, for help in
understanding and resolving the complex issues related to unity."
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