United Methodists grapple with gay ban | Seattle P-I

[Ediacara]

United Methodists grapple with gay ban
Pastor's acquittal doesn't resolve issue for church

By GREGORY ROBERTS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

With the acquittal of a lesbian minister Saturday after a church trial in Bothell, center stage in the Methodists' long-running debate over homosexuality shifts from the gay-friendly Pacific Northwest to an international arena that's far more straight-laced.

The Rev. Karen Dammann, 47, kept her ministerial credentials thanks to a favorable decision Saturday by a jury of 13 fellow United Methodist pastors from the denomination's Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, the church governing body that includes Washington state and Northern Idaho.

But the battle over homosexuality in the Methodist ministry is sure to be rejoined April 27 in Pittsburgh, when representatives of the 117 regional conferences around the world assemble in the General Conference, which meets every four years and determines church doctrine.

Homosexuality has been on the agenda every time since 1972, when the General Conference adopted a committee statement that "homosexuals not less than heterosexuals are persons of sacred worth. ..." -- but only after a floor vote added the phrase "... although we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider the practice incompatible with Christian teaching."

More at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

[Sagan]

1. My Dad always said:

"Son, we don't belong to any organized religion. We're Methodists."

[ulysses]

2. LOL

True enough, and a tad ironic given the name.

Still have a soft spot for the UMC - when CatWoman and I protested the (then coming) war a year ago February, we talked with an older guy who had been keeping a daily anti-war vigil outside the Methodist church near here. Cool man, doing what he was doing very much out of his beliefs. Ms Uly and I had a lot of friends when we were first married who did a lot for homeless folks in the area out of the UMC church there.

Hope the denomination as a whole has continued to evolve.

[skjpm]

3. No church condones all forms of homosexual behavior

This wonderful woman minister is witnessing to a lifelong, monogamous relationship. I, too, as a Christian, support this expression of homosexuality. But there are kinds of sexual behavior, homo and hetero, which the church advises against. The victory here is for monogamy and fidelity, not any particular type of orientation.

[ulysses]

4. not quite parsing this

But there are kinds of sexual behavior, homo and hetero, which the church advises against.

Meaning particular sexual acts? Anal or oral intercourse? I don't see where anyone thought that the church was talking about particular sex acts at all.

The victory here is for monogamy and fidelity, not any particular type of orientation.

Orientation - you mean gay vs straight, or some more specific "orientation"? I'm not trying to be obtuse, just trying to get at your meaning. There've always been monogamous and true gay couples, so I'm not sure why this is a particular victory in that way.