Pastor denies membership to homosexual, gets canned

[proud2BlibKansan]

TESTING THE FAITH
Pastor denies membership
to homosexual, gets canned

Methodist cleric suspended from pulpit
for 1 year for 'living out his conscience'
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 30, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

A pastor who denied church membership to a homosexual has been banished from the pulpit and denied his salary for one year by the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, despite the admission he acted on his conscience and his action could be defended "in theory" from the Methodist Book of Discipline.

Rev. Edward Johnson, former pastor of South Hill United Methodist Church for the past six years, will appeal his suspension to the denomination's highest court in Houston in late October.

The action leading to the pastor's "involuntary leave of absence" was initiated by Rev. W. Anthony Layman, retired district superintendent for Johnson's region in rural Southside Virginia, following Johnson's December refusal to allow a homosexual man to join his congregation.

Layman told United Methodist News Service he and other conference officials "did all we could do to help see the inconsistency of his stance in his ministry" before filing a complaint against him in April.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45513

[madeline_con]

1. I'll pray for him.

:evilgrin:

[jarab]

2. Locking -

The linked source is unreliable and not suitable for LBN. Feel free to re-post if a better and unbiased mainstream source should become available. Thanks.