Methodists Uphold Opposition to Gays

The United Methodist Church, torn by internal dissent and confronted by gay-rights advocates, reaffirmed its prohibition against homosexual ministers Thursday and again declared that homosexuality is contrary to Scripture.

In a series of votes during a tumultuous meeting here of its international General Conference, nearly 1,000 delegates voted 2 to 1 against blessing same-sex unions and ordaining gay men and lesbians. The vote came as 30 gay-rights demonstrators were ejected from the convention floor and arrested.

The conference, which meets every four years and is the church’s highest authority, also restated its stand that, while God’s grace is available to homosexuals, sex between them is contrary to Scripture.

At the same time, the delegates approved without debate a resolution that implored families and churches “not to reject or condemn their lesbian and gay members and friends.”

The homosexual issue is confronting many churches this year. But the action by the United Methodists has been followed closely. With 8.4 million U.S. members, the United Methodist Church is the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination after the Southern Baptist Convention and is often viewed as closely reflecting the religious thoughts of middle America.

Throughout the 10-day conference, which is scheduled to end today, leaders repeatedly appealed for unity and emphasized that no matter the divergent opinions on homosexuality, they were one in their belief in Jesus.

But the exhortations and hymn singing could not hide the deep divisions the issue has caused within the church.

The vote opposing the ordination of homosexuals was 640 to 317, a 67% majority. The vote reaffirming that the Bible clearly teaches against homosexuality was 628 to 337, a 65% majority. A resolution opposing same-sex unions passed 646 to 294, a 69% majority.

“This body is lacerated,” the Rev. Linda Campbell-Marshall of Hope, Maine, told reporters. “There is going to be a profound need for pastoral care, for damage control. We had a two-thirds, one-third vote. One-third of our people are bleeding tonight, and they are not going to stop bleeding because the issue is legislatively resolved.”

But the Rev. Maxie Dunnam, dean of the church’s conservative Asbury Theological Seminary, responded that if the church was in turmoil it was not the conservatives who were at fault.

“The group that is causing the problem is not the church . . . but the persons in the church who do not want to live within the confines of the positions the church has taken. We are not to blame,” Dunnam said.

Before the vote, gay-rights demonstrators had been allowed into the convention in an attempt to head off a confrontation. But as the vote against same-sex unions was tallied, they broke their agreement to remain orderly and surrounded the podium.

“We were raised in your Sunday schools and confirmed as adults, and told that we . . . are second-class citizens of God’s kingdom,” declared protest leader Randy Miller of San Francisco. The protesters would have to be forceably removed “to symbolize the broken covenant that has occurred here today,” he said.

As they were led away, an anguished Bishop Daniel Solomon of Baton Rouge, La., who chaired the meeting, hid his face in his hands after announcing he had no choice but to allow the arrests.

“I bury my head in prayer. I cannot witness what is about to occur,” Solomon said.

The debate on the resolutions was equally intense. “This is not an issue on which we can compromise,” said delegate Ruth Daugherty of Lancaster, Pa. “This does not mean we are homophobic or unloving or mean-spirited. We do not believe that homosexuality when practiced is a greater sin than others--but we do believe that it is a sin.”

On the other side, the Rev. John Edgar of Columbus, Ohio, said that 50 gay men and lesbians in his church would join him for dinner on Sunday. “I would like to be able to not have to say to them, one by one, as I looked them in the eye, ‘The church says that you are not compatible with Christian teaching.’ ”