A United Methodist pastor in Teaneck, N.J., echoed those sentiments. Conservatives in that denomination said in May that the church should consider splitting. But a vast majority of delegates at the national conference responded by voting for a unity resolution. The conservatives remain undaunted, saying they will continue studying the feasibility of a split.

“The faith is being undermined,” said the Rev. Paul Jaw, pastor of Teaneck United Methodist Church, who is organizing a network of conservative Methodists in New Jersey. “People are just picking and choosing what they want from the Bible.”

The uncompromising views trouble gay Christians, particularly in the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, where conservatives are far more numerous than in the Episcopal Church.

In May, at the United Methodist Church's General Conference, several hundred members defiantly kneeled in prayer to protest their church's stance on gays. Meanwhile, at the same conference, a conservative wing of the church gave a standing ovation to a pastor who urged the denomination to split in two if it couldn't see eye to eye about homosexuality.

 

United Methodist: The denomination, at its recent General Conference, affirmed that marriage is an act between a man and woman. The denomination does not bless same-sex unions in its churches nor allow its clergy to preside at such ceremonies.

May 22, 2004:  RELIGION: Once again, evangelicals and other conservatives in the 8.3-million-member United Methodist Church are basking in the uncertain glow of victory | by Edward E. Plowman

At the United Methodist Church's 10-day governing General Conference, which ended this month in Pittsburgh, conferees fortified the church's official position condemning homosexual behavior and prohibiting noncelibate lesbians and gays from serving as clergy. They also defeated an attempt by liberals to create wiggle room that could enable gays and their backers to skirt church law.

This battle over the homosexuality issue has been going on for three decades in the quadrennial conferences. The conservatives have been on the winning side so far, but by decreasing margins. And they know gays and their supporters will continue to ignore church law and be back next time to fight again. Enforcement of church law is an issue that must be addressed, says Jim Heidinger, head of the Good News renewal movement, part of the UMDecision 2004 coalition that coordinated conservative efforts at the conference.

 

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Pro-gay forces failed 527-423 to add a sentence to the Social Principles section of the church law book that said: "We recognize that Christians disagree on the compatibility of homosexual practice with Christian teaching." Opponents said this would muddy the church's position and confuse the public.

The delegates by a 674-262 vote also emphatically retained the ban on ordination and placement of practicing homosexuals as ministers.

Prodded by conservatives, the Judicial Council took up the Dammann matter. Under UMC rules, verdicts in regional conference trials cannot be appealed, but that doesn't mean they can't be addressed. In a 6-3 decision, the high court went on record saying that the practice of homosexuality clearly is a chargeable offense for clergy, contrary to the Seattle jury's explanation.

The delegates then voted 551-345 to instruct the court to determine the "meaning, application, and effect of its decision on the outcome of the Dammann trial." The council came back with a two-pronged answer: It had no authority to overturn the Seattle decision, but it also said a local bishop may not appoint "a self-avowed, practicing homosexual" to any ministry post. That answer ignited more debate. Conservatives contended that the ruling means Rev. Dammann's bishop couldn't appoint her to pastor a church, which leaves her in limbo. Rev. Dammann's defenders insisted that the ruling applies only to bishops in future cases, not to the Dammann case. The issue remains unresolved.

As in Cleveland four years ago, gay activists and their supporters demonstrated inside and outside the conference venue. This time there were no arrests. At one point, about 200 marchers paraded up and down the aisles with placards but after a short time left peaceably.

In other actions, the delegates:

—rejected a measure floated by some conservatives to seek an "amicable separation" of warring factions into two separate denominations, and by a vote of 869-41 replaced it with a resolution reaffirming "our commitment to work together for our common mission," even "in the midst of disagreement."

—voted 625-184 to add language to the Social Principles endorsing "laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman," the first mainline denomination to do so. —•  Read More

The 8.3-million-member United Methodist Church is the first U.S. mainline denomination to go on record opposing same-sex marriage in civil law. The action came during the UMC's quadrennial policy-making General Conference this month in Pittsburgh. Delegates voted 625 to 184 to add language to the UMC's Social Principles handbook endorsing "laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman." The cleverly worded legislation was submitted by conservative leader Mark Tooley, director of the UM Action Committee of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Religion and Democracy. The UMC already had prohibited same-sex unions in its churches but had not yet addressed the issue of marriage in society at large.

Power shift

- Edward E. Plowman's article ("Four more years," May 22) miscasts what occurred in Pittsburgh at the United Methodists' General Conference. He states that conservatives have been winning by decreasing margins, but the vote to retain the ban on the ordination of practicing homosexuals was 640 to 317 in 2000 and 674 to 262 in 2004. Clever attempts to water down the conservative position that might have passed at the Cleveland General Conference in 2000 failed decisively at Pittsburgh in 2004. This isn't surprising, given that there has been a shift of power to the Southeast and Southwestern conferences, which are far more conservative and evangelical. However, evangelicals have a knack for throwing in the towel just when they have their adversary on the ropes, while there is no quit in the ­liberal progressives. This is no time for Methodist evangelicals to turn inward and rend their garments, but to move steadily forward on to the next General Conference.

—Thomas Alan Harvey

Singapore

- I'm not surprised that the United Methodist Church is debating Scripture's stance on homosexuality. The UMC long ago chose to ignore God's commands on other issues; when a church chucks one "cultural faux pas" from the Bible, what is to stop the elimination of every other command that does not jive with the world and its culture?

—Cherry Blattert