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Church retains (again) its stance on human sexuality

Delegates to the 2008 General Conference rejected changes to the United Methodist Social Principles that would have acknowledged that church members disagree on homosexuality. Instead, the assembly adopted a minority report that retained language in the denomination’s 2004 Book of Discipline (Par. 161G) describing homosexual practice as “incompatible with Christian teaching.” The minority report was adopted by a vote of 517-416 (55 to 45 percent), nearly identical to the margin of four years ago. It then became the majority report and was adopted by a similar percentage vote of 501 to 417.

The minority report also strengthened the statement on marriage in the same paragraph by adding that “sexual relations are affirmed only within the covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage.”

The adopted wording in Paragraph 161G also states that “all persons are individuals of sacred worth, created in the image of God,” and that United Methodists are to be “welcoming, forgiving and loving one another, as Christ has loved and accepted us.”

Majority and minority reports: In its majority report, the legislative committee, chaired by Frederick Brewington, New York Conference, recommended that delegates delete the incompatibility sentence and adopt the statement, “Faithful, thoughtful people who have grappled with this issue deeply disagree with one another; yet all seek a faithful witness.” The revision also would have asked United Methodists and others “to refrain from judgment regarding homosexual persons and practices as the Spirit leads us to a new insight.”

In presenting the minority report, however, the Rev. Eddie Fox said that any United Methodist statement on human sexuality needs to be “clear, concise and faithful to biblical teaching.” Leaving out the statement that homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching” would be confusing, especially for members of the church outside the United States, Fox said.

“I have seen and experienced the pain and the brokenness in parts of our global movement whenever our church has failed to hold fast to this essential teaching of the Holy Scripture,” he said.    The action of the General Conference prompted a coalition of gay advocacy groups immediately to stage a silent vigil outside the Fort Worth Convention Center. Members of Soulforce, Affirmation, Reconciling Ministries Network, and Methodist Federation for Social Action lined the entrance as delegates returned from a dinner break.

Heated debate: Earlier in the day, the petition opposing homophobia generated some heated debate from the floor when a delegate from the Democratic Republic of Congo described homosexual practice as among the things “that come from the devil.”

“Homosexuality is a practice that is incompatible with the love of God,” he said through a translator. “We love homosexual people, but we detest what they do.”

But the Rev. Judy Stevens, New York Conference, countered: “We are all aware of the violence used against homosexual people in the world today.… It’s time to stand with people whose orientation may be different from us.”

The Rev. Steve Wende of the Texas Conference said the debate was painful, but cautioned delegates against changing the Discipline’s language: “If we do this as a way of making some people happy, it won’t make anyone happy.”

Will Green of the New England Conference urged delegates to adopt the committee’s recommendation. “It allows for gay and lesbian people like myself to stay in the church in a safe way that doesn’t cause us to be sacrificed for the sake of church unity,” he said.

The Rev. Kent Millard, South Indiana Conference, said the petition reflects reality among United Methodists. “The truth is, we are divided,” he said. “Let’s just acknowledge that it doesn’t say one is right and one is wrong. It just says we disagree.”

Following the vote to approve what had become the majority report, the pro-gay advocacy group in the visitors section of the convention hall stood and began singing “Jesus loves us, this we know.” They continued singing for nearly 20 minutes while the secretary read four lengthy Judicial Council decisions that had just been rendered. Conference then adjourned for dinner.

‘Silent witness’ protests church’s actions: The next day, Thursday, May 1, in response to the votes to retain the present standards on homosexuality the previous day, more than 200 people joined in a protest to declare the denomination’s policies and practices against homosexuality to be “sinful” and claimed that “sexuality is a gift from God.”

The demonstration was part of a mediated effort between the Council of Bishops, General Conference officers and gay-rights advocates upset by the April 30 decision by delegates to uphold the church’s stance that homosexual practice is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

Presiding officer Bishop Lawrence McCleskey called a recess during the morning legislative session to allow the protesters to enter the legislative floor. He invited delegates and visitors to “receive it in the spirit of Christian hospitality and holy conferencing.” [The 15-minute “silent witness” actually lasted about 25 minutes and was followed by another recess of 10 more minutes to clear the floor.] 

Primarily dressed in black, demonstrators walked onto the legislative floor at the Fort Worth Convention Center, formed a two-lined cross around the communion table located in the center aisle and draped it in a black shroud to witness against the church’s stance on homosexual practice. They entered silently, but once all demonstrators were in place, they sang, “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?”

The black shroud and the black worn by the demonstrators was to “recognize our brokenness” and “to acknowledge that the body is broken,” said Audrey Krumbach, who read a statement during the witness. “We are part of God’s living body in today’s world, but our United Methodist Church refuses to accept what God has already done; refuses to keep covenant with its own words in the baptismal promise…refuses to open its hearts, minds and doors,” said Krumbach, formerly a member of the North Georgia Conference and a student at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

Krumbach also declared that the “anti-gay policies of the United Methodist Church are wrong and sinful in the sight of God” and in the act of witnessing “we reject the lie that homosexuality is a sin and that by standing, we affirm that sexuality is a good gift of God.”

Holy Conferencing means listening sensitively: The demonstration was a compromise between General Conference officers, the Council of Bishops, and leaders of groups advocating the full inclusion of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in the church. There had been plans for a large-scale demonstration reminiscent of those at the 2000 General Conference in Cleveland, where people participated in acts of civil disobedience and were arrested. At the 2004 conference in Pittsburgh, a demonstration was held on the assembly floor.

“It was our conviction that being in holy conferencing means listening deeply and sensitively to voices you might otherwise not hear” and “identify ways in which the votes and the desire for a witness was affecting the life of the council,” said Bishop Gregory Palmer. During the protest, bishops who have different perspectives around the issue of human sexuality moved within, around, and outside the activists to demonstrate their pastoral role among the body.

Bishops Gregory V. Palmer, Janice Riggle Huie and Larry Goodpaster, standing behind the altar table, lifted their hands and prayed, “not to put a stamp on this issue but to recognize that these are people,” Bishop Palmer explained afterward.

Comparisons to Central Jurisdiction: Retired Bishop Melvin Talbert then came forward to offer a statement of his own. He compared the church’s stance against gays and lesbians to the 1939 Methodist Church action that segregated black members and clergy into the Central Jurisdiction.

“That action was wrong. That action was a sin against God,” and in making the decision on April 30, the General Conference “has taken an action that is wrong,” he said. “I can only say what is in my heart. General Conference, General Conference, this is wrong. I invite you to reconsider.”

Palmer found Talbert’s statements surprising but said he could understand the content. Comparisons of sexual rights, civil rights and the Central Jurisdiction are nothing new, he said.

Some delegates stood in solidarity with the witnesses, and others remained seated because they did not support the demonstration.

‘I make no apology’: North Georgia Bishop Lindsey Davis expressed thanks for the way the leadership team of the Council of Bishops allowed the activists to voice their concerns and their hurts, but he refuted Talbert’s assertion that the United Methodist Church is wrong in upholding its stance against homosexuality.

“I think the church is right. I think we are very much in sync with historic Christianity and very much in sync with 99.9 percent of Christians in the world,” he said. “I make no apology for our position. It is biblical, and it is in keeping with 2,000 years of Christian tradition.” The church’s stance is compassionate, he said, but those who participated in the act of witness may not have that perspective and use civil rights as an argument for inclusion.

“I definitely disagree with Bishop Talbert on that matter.… I do not think it has anything to do with civil rights,” Davis said. He added that the church takes great strides to protect the civil rights of all people. “I will go to the mat to protect the civil rights of all of these persons who protested today, but I don’t think you can equate the two,” he said. “If you do, it is doing a disservice to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and on.”

Eunice Musa Iliya, a delegate from Nigeria and a student at Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology, stood in support of the witness, despite being admonished by other members of the Nigerian delegation. “My delegation remained seated because they believe that it [homosexual practice] is incompatible with Christian teaching,” she said.

Iliya found being the lone supporter “terrible” because “they are not happy with what I did.” She stood “to support my fellow brothers and sisters who are a part of this body.… They are all children of God, and we should support them and give them opportunity to be in the same place where God has called us to be.”

‘We were held captive’: The Rev. Chappell Temple of the Texas Conference said there were numerous delegates who were “dismayed, saddened and outraged” at the event. Bishop J. Lawrence McCleskey, the presiding bishop prior to the action, halted the legislative assembly and recessed the conference. Temple said, “He should have said those wishing to leave can do so. We were held captive. The altar was desecrated; the singing was presumptuous, self-righteous and accusatory.”

While noting the pain resulting from the church’s decision and stance, Temple also said it was wrong to lay guilt on those trying to follow Christ and listen to Christ. “I understand that the [event] was a compromise, [but] what was allowed was simply blackmail, it was extortion” and was disrespectful to people of different views.

“For a person to give a long, one-sided speech, and for a bishop to speak and call for reconsideration, goes against everything that we hold together as holy covenant,” he said.

During the witness, Krumbach said the voices of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people have not been heard, but Chappell disagrees. “They have made witness the entire week,” he said. “No one is happy about where we are, and their demonstration implied that somehow we’ve heaped burning coals on them.”

Retired Bishop Judith Craig said the witness was “more powerful and better heard than it’s ever been. Folks were touched and deeply moved, regardless of which side they’re on.”

But the Rev. Tom Lambrecht, chair of the Renewal and Reform Coalition, disagreed. “I thought it was sad that we had to go through this kind of exercise,” Lambrecht said. “I can certainly recognize the pain, but this is furthering the division and causing hard feelings.” He said the Council of Bishops and other church leaders should find “more positive and constructive ways” to lead those who have differing opinions. “There’s no other issue that gets this kind of special treatment,” he said.

At a press conference later that evening, Bishop Palmer expressed a “deep sense of gratitude” at how the delegates and participants handled the silent witness, and said the 12 bishops who began a dialogue with gay-rights advocates had created a “table for Christian conferencing. We acknowledged that we stand in brokenness and great pain as a church, and that faithful people disagree,” Bishop Palmer said.

The Rev. Troy Plummer, executive director of the Reconciling Ministries Network, said “Today was a better day than yesterday,” speaking of the initial response to the April 30 decisions by General Conference. “We were in shock that the votes went the way they did.” He added, “It’s very dismaying to leave General Conference with [Judicial Council Decision] 1032 still in place. That’s a grief to our people.”

At noon on Friday, May 2, the last day of General Conference, some 200 persons (delegates and visitors) attended a lesbian couple’s commitment ceremony in defiance of the vote to uphold the church’s standards on homosexual practice. The ceremony was held at a park across from the Fort Worth Convention Center where General Conference was meeting.

In other action on sexuality issues, delegates voted to uphold the church’s present standards that:

• Forbid the ordination or appointment of self-avowed practicing homosexuals;

• Forbid the performing of same-sex unions or marriages or use our churches for the same;

• Forbid using church funds at the general church or annual conference level from being used to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.

Adapted from United Methodist News Service stories written by Linda Green and Robin Russell, and Good News Information Service material.



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