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(Denver Colorado) Two rulings this week by the
highest court in the United Methodist Church on the role of gays is dividing the
denomination, with many members calling for a more liberal view of homosexuality
and same-sex relationships.
Nearly 100 faculty and students from the
Iliff School of Theology staged a protest vigil this week in front of Denver's
United Methodist headquarters over the rulings. The
Denver school is a United Methodist seminary.
At the same time, across the country, the
Church's bishops were voicing their opposition to at least one of the rulings.
On Monday the United Methodist Church's Judicial
Council overturned a lower church court ruling and ordered the defrocking of a
lesbian pastor who is in a committed relationship with another woman. (story)
The United Methodist Church accepts gay and
lesbian ministers as long as they are celibate.
The Rev. Beth Stroud notified her Germantown,
Pennsylvania congregation of the relationship in a sermon on April 27, 2003. Her
bishop immediately began procedures to remove Stroud from the ministry.
In a second LGBT case, the Judicial Council
ordered the reinstatement of a rural Virginia minister placed on leave for
denying a gay man membership in his church last winter. (story)
The Council decided the Rev. Edward Johnson was
within his ministerial rights when he denied membership to the would-be
parishioner.
Anger at the rulings reached the very top
of the Iliff School of Theology.
"[It's] a very sad and offensive decision"
Iliff interim president Phil Wogaman said of the ruling reinstating Johnson. On
the Stroud decision, the Rev. Gil Caldwell, a former
member of the Iliff board of trustees and a retired United Methodist
minister, said it was misguided.
Caldwell, who worked with the Rev. Martin Luther King in the
civil rights movement, told the crowd that Stroud faces a worse
situation than the late Rosa Parks.
"Even though Rosa Parks was forced to sit in the back of the
bus, at least she had a place on the bus," Caldwell said.
While the protestors were holding their vigil in
Denver, the Church's 65 active bishops were issuing a dissent of their own.
The bishops were meeting at a Methodist retreat
in North Carolina.
The prepared a pastoral letter to to be read in
all United Methodist Churches this Sunday criticizing the Judicial Council
ruling on Johnson.
"While pastors have the responsibility to
discern readiness for membership, homosexuality is not a barrier," the
letter says.
©365Gay.com 2005
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