Bet you thought I was going to talk about the Episcopal/Anglican communion, but this has been on my to-write-about list for longer than that. The Episcopals are not the only denomination tearing themselves apart over homosexual Christians—the United Methodist Church is deeply divided, too: Page 6 of this PDF gives a summary of the current situation, where a pastor has denied a transfer of membership into his congregation for a person he believes to be homosexual.
As I dug deeper, however, I found that the division (and the discussion) is pretty historically active: A History
A High (or low)-light: On MAY-8, a resolution was rejected 705 to 210 that would have required a loyalty oath of any minister assigned to a congregation: “I do not believe that homosexuality is God’s perfect will for any person. I will not practice it. I will not promote it. I will not allow its promotion to
be encouraged under my authority.”
Wow, that’s a strong statement. And 210 of the UMC Bishops thought it was a good idea. I am afraid for the Church. I am glad that both my current local church (St Paul Lutheran)and the church I grew up in (AUMC, the one whose newsletter is linked above) have active, independant bishops who are not willing to see anyone excluded from the life of the church.
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