wfn.org | UMNS# 04464-Candidates don't always espouse church beliefs

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

Candidates don't always espouse church beliefs 

Oct. 7, 2004	 News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470* 
Nashville {04464}

NOTE: A related story, UMNS story #463, is available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Analysis
By Amy Green

The United Methodist Church has both Republican and Democratic candidates in
this presidential election, but their beliefs don't always match the
denomination's. 
 
President Bush has been most criticized by church leaders for his invasion of
Iraq. His "pre-emptive strike" strategy prompted outcry from some bishops,
who saw it as a violation of the belief that war should be a last resort. The
church's Book of Discipline calls on United Methodists to "reject war as a
usual instrument of national foreign policy and insist that the first moral
duty of all nations (be) to resolve by peaceful means every dispute that
arises."
 
Like Bush, both Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Sen. John Edwards, the
Democratic vice-presidential candidate, are United Methodist. The Democratic
presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, is Catholic.

Both the Bush and Kerry campaigns deviate from United Methodist beliefs on a
variety of issues. The denomination's Board of Church and Society has put
together a guide to help voters compare the candidates' beliefs to the
church's. The resource, available at
http://www.umc-gbcs.org/uploads/csa/2742004%20Election%20Platforms.pdf, is
compiled from the church's Social Principles and resolutions, campaign
platforms and candidates' statements. 

Here are a few highlights:
 
The United Methodist Church supports conflict resolution through the United
Nations and sees cooperation with the organization as an alternative to war
and terrorism. The church opposes indiscriminate military force to fight
terrorism. Bush supports the Patriot Act, which gives expanded powers to law
enforcement and intelligence agencies in fighting terrorism, while Sen. John
Kerry advocates letting it expire. 
 
The church has quarreled internally for years over homosexuality. Its top
legislative body, the General Conference, voted last spring to retain its
stance that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching and that
marriage is for a man and woman. The church supports the basic rights of
homosexuals to housing, education, employment and other services. Bush
supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Kerry is against
gay marriage but opposes a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. He
supports civil rights for homosexuals.
 
The denomination supports keeping abortion legal but opposes late-term or
partial-birth abortion except for when a mother's life is in danger or severe
deformities make life impossible for a fetus. Bush supports a constitutional
amendment banning abortion and legislation granting 14th Amendment protection
to unborn children. Kerry supports keeping abortion legal but opposes
partial-birth abortion. 
 
The United Methodist Church supports genetic research to meet fundamental
food supply and other needs, but the church is against human cloning and
genetic therapies that produce waste embryos. Bush is against federally
funded stem-cell research and human cloning, while Kerry supports federally
funded stem-cell research and cloning for therapeutic purposes. 
 
The denomination opposes the death penalty. Bush supports it, while Kerry
opposes it.

In addition to the Board of Church and Society's comparison guide, the United
Methodist Church is offering a prayer resource for the weeks leading up to
the election. The United Methodist Board of Discipleship has released A Guide
to Prayer for the 2004 National Election, covering Oct. 10 through Election
Day, Nov. 2. The personal prayer guide is available as a downloadable PDF
document at www.upperroom.org/bookstore. Downloading it costs $2.50. 

The National Council of Churches is also offering a session for group or
individual study at www.ncccusa.org/electionyearprinciplesguide.html.

*Green is a freelance journalist based in Nashville, Tenn.
 
News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5473 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

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