NEWS STORY: Methodist high court: Church statement banning same-sex unions is law

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ United Methodist pastors who preside over same-sex unions may be brought before church courts and charged with disobedience, the church’s highest court has ruled. The ruling, which takes effect immediately, states the denomination’s prohibition against performing gay unions, as spelled out in its Social Principles, is tantamount to […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ United Methodist pastors who preside over same-sex unions may be brought before church courts and charged with disobedience, the church’s highest court has ruled.

The ruling, which takes effect immediately, states the denomination’s prohibition against performing gay unions, as spelled out in its Social Principles, is tantamount to church law, and not simply a guideline as had been argued by gay-rights supporters.


The decision by the denomination’s nine-member Judicial Council, meeting in Dallas in a special session Friday and Saturday (Aug. 7-8), was made public Tuesday.”Conduct in violation of this prohibition renders a pastor liable to a charge of disobedience to the order and discipline of the United Methodist Church,”the council ruled. If found guilty, a pastor could face penalties ranging from a formal reprimand to defrocking.

At issue is the church’s ban on gay unions adopted by the 1996 General Conference, the 8.5 million-member denomination’s top policy-making body. That prohibition reads:”Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.” In March, the Rev. Jimmy Creech, then pastor of First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Neb., was acquitted by the slimmest of margins in a church trial because he had performed a union ceremony for two women the previous fall.

Creech and his defenders had argued the Social Principles do not carry the same weight as church law, which is outlined in the denomination’s Book of Discipline.

But at the request of bishops in the eight-state South Central Jurisdiction, the Methodist high court ruled the prohibition is church law,”notwithstanding its placement”in the Social Principles.

In oral presentations before the council, the Rev. Douglas J. Williamson, a professor at the Nebraska Wesleyan University, said that when examining church rules as a whole, the statement banning gay unions conflicts with the church’s assertion that homosexuals are”persons of sacred worth”and its advocacy of equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation.

But Bishop Bruce Blake of Oklahoma City told the council the Social Principles support the Book of Discipline.”When the spirit and intent of the Book of Discipline is violated, all of the book is violated,”Blake told the council.”All of the book depends on each part of the book.” In dealing with the broader question of whether all statements in the Social Principles can be interpreted as church law, the council ruled it was”unable to render a definitive decision on all the specific provisions … (in the) Social Principles without a reference to a specific paragraph.” Judicial Council members serve eight-year stints with four or five new members elected at each quadrennial General Conference. The council is comprised of clergy and lay leaders, most of which are attorneys.

Reaction to the ruling fell along predictable lines.”This is a sad day for United Methodism,”said Mark Bowman, director of the Reconciling Congregation Program, a national network of United Methodist churches that welcome homosexuals.”The church has once again sent a message of inhospitality to lesbian, gay and bisexual persons and their families and friends.” John Ed Mathison, president of the Confessing Movement, a traditionalist group calling for reform in what it says are the liberal leanings of the church, however, said he is”delighted”with the ruling.”This decision goes some distance in restoring trust in the authority of the courts of our church, a trust that has been seriously eroded by the trial in Nebraska,”he said, referring to the acquittal of Creech.


But the Rev. Gregory Dell, coordinator of In All Things Charity, a movement within the church that supports same-sex unions, said the ruling undermines pastoral authority.”It serves notice to every pastor that the Social Principles now become the law of the church,”he said.”… This is a real attempt by the church to limit the liturgical power of the pastor for which the pastor was ordained.” Dell, pastor of Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago, said despite the ruling he intends to go forward with plans to celebrate”a service of holy union between two men”next month, fully expecting to be brought to trial if charges are filed against him for doing so.

The debate is so heated, observers on both sides of the controversy predict it will lead to schism.”Clergy and other church officials who cannot in good conscience abide by the decision should resign their positions,”said Mark Tooley, head of the United Methodist committee of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative Washington-based think tank that monitors mainline denominations.”Our United Methodist doctrines on sexuality and marriage depend … upon the clear message of the Scriptures and the continuous witness of Christians for 2,000 years,”Tooley said.”The debate should now be settled.” Said Dell:”There are going to be people forced out of our denomination. Maybe that’s what the denomination wants at this point.”

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