wfn.org | United Methodists affirm church laws on homosexuality

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CLEVELAND (UMNS) - Amid demonstrations, singing and arrests, representatives
of the United Methodist Church voted May 11 to uphold the denomination's
current positions on homosexuality.

The delegates of General Conference, the denomination's highest legislative
body, also retained a prohibition against pastors performing same-sex union
ceremonies, but moved that prohibition to a different section of The Book of
Discipline. The 992 delegates from around the world are meeting through May
12.

Thirty people were arrested after they surrounded the presiding bishop in
protest of the votes. The protesters, who were removed peaceably by police,
included clergy members and two bishops - Susan Morrison of Albany, N.Y.,
and C. Joseph Sprague of Chicago. It was the second time in as many days
that Sprague had been arrested.

By a nearly two-thirds majority, delegates maintained the church's position
of not condoning the practice of homosexuality and continued the exclusion
of homosexuals from ordained ministry. Those votes sparked the day's first
demonstration on the floor of the Cleveland Convention Center.

Delegates voted 628 to 337 in favor of retaining the current language in
Paragraph 65G of the Book of Discipline, which affirms God's grace is
available to all people but states that "the practice of homosexuality is
incompatible with Christian teaching."

Following the vote, protesters entered the floor and balcony. 

With a similar majority, the body also voted to retain the rule that
"self-avowed practicing homosexuals" cannot be accepted into ordained
ministry. That vote stood at 640 in favor of retaining the language and 317
opposed.

Minority reports were presented for both pieces of legislation. Both were
defeated. 

The Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference,
presented the minority report for the legislation dealing with Paragraph
65G. The report proposed removing the last two sentences in the paragraph,
which state that the practice of homosexuality is "incompatible with
Christian teaching." The report would have added a passage reflecting that
United Methodists are not of a common mind on homosexuality. The new wording
would also state: "Many consider this practice incompatible with Christian
teaching. Others believe it acceptable when practiced in a context of human
covenantal faithfulness."

"It is not a violation of conscience to admit there is a difference between
us," said Wogaman, pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington.

Roger Elliott, a delegate from North Carolina, spoke against the minority
report. "This is not an issue on which we can compromise," he said. "We
don't believe it is a greater sin than others, but it is a sin." The report
was defeated 585 to 376.

A demonstration of protest followed, and the delegates had a recess. After
the session resumed, Richard Parker, a delegate from the New York Annual
Conference, made a motion for General Conference to declare a moratorium on
current language regarding homosexuality to allow a quadrennium of healing
and discernment in the life of the church. "We've had enough pain today
around these issues. ... What we need now is loving, care and respect for
each other," he said.

Delegates rejected an amendment to his motion that would have required the
United Methodist Board of Discipleship to develop a plan for discernment and
dialogue to engage the church on matters of homosexuality.

A delegate from Zimbabwe asked the delegates not to "betray" the church in
Africa by supporting homosexuality. The Parker motion was defeated 637 to
320.

In the afternoon session, delegates voted 646 to 294 to retain the language
currently found in the denomination's Social Principles regarding same-sex
unions. The last sentence in Paragraph 65C reads: "Ceremonies that celebrate
homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be
conducted in our churches."

Before that vote was taken, the Rev. Emery Percell, Northern Illinois
Conference, asked delegates to consider a minority report that would change
the word "shall" to "should." The purpose, he explained, was "to make it
something other than a chargeable offense."

Percell is a member of an annual conference where one pastor, the Rev. Greg
Dell, already has been convicted in a church trial of violating the
prohibition. Percell stressed the destruction, trauma and polarity caused by
the process.

The Rev. Don Fado, a California-Nevada Conference pastor who performed a
same-sex union ceremony in Sacramento, supported the change in language "so
people would be free to do ministry where they are."

Referring to a same-sex ceremony that he conducted - which led to the filing
of charges against him and more than 60 other pastors in that conference -
Fado said, "Some of you feel we broke covenant to do this. I hope our
covenant is more than one rule in the Discipline."

But the Rev. Paul Leeland, North Carolina Conference, argued that the church
has an obligation to define how faith and order are to be lived out. "This
is also a defining moment," he explained, "It expresses how our denomination
identifies a common ground that makes us a family."

The Rev. Robert Hayes, chairman of the Faith and Order Committee, also urged
defeat of the minority report. Hayes presented the committee's
recommendation to retain the same-sex union prohibition. He said that
substituting "should" for "shall" would be ambiguous and unacceptable. "If
we would allow a change at this point, the church would have no leverage in
such cases," he added.

In a separate action, delegates voted 670 to 222 to move the sentence
prohibiting pastors from conducting homosexual unions from Paragraph 65C in
the Social Principles to Paragraph 332, "Special Provisions," under the
section, "Ministry of the Ordained" in the Book of Discipline. The original
petition recommended retaining the language in two sections of the
Discipline but was twice amended.

The vote came after the group rejected a minority report delivered with an
emotional plea by Stephen Frantz of the Oregon-Idaho Conference. The
minority report would have amended a sentence in Paragraph 65G of the Social
Principles to read: "Although we do not condone the practice of
homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with some Christian
teaching, we affirm that God's grace is available to all."  

An attempt to change the word "we" to "most" in that sentence also was
rejected.

By consent, delegates added a sentence after the incompatibility sentence in
65G stating, "We implore families and churches not to reject or condemn
their lesbian and gay members and friends."

A petition aimed at continuing the dialogue among those on all sides of the
homosexuality issue was approved by more than 80 percent of the delegates.
The dialogues would be organized by the United Methodist Commission on
Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.

Delegates considered several petitions regarding Paragraph 806.12 in the
Discipline, but let stand language that restricts the use of church funds
"to promote the acceptance of homosexuality."
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          --Barbara Nissen and Linda Bloom

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United Methodist News Service
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