{"id":13064,"date":"2019-02-27T12:05:24","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T17:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=13064"},"modified":"2019-02-27T12:05:24","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T17:05:24","slug":"united-methodist-church-votes-keep-ban-gay-clergy-sex-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2019\/02\/united-methodist-church-votes-keep-ban-gay-clergy-sex-marriage","title":{"rendered":"United Methodist Church Votes to Keep Ban on Gay Clergy and Same-Sex Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ludovic<\/a>
Ludovic Bertron\/WikiCommons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Tuesday, the United Methodist Church voted to strengthen its ban on gay clergy and same-sex marriages. This is a decision that could ultimately split the country\u2019s second largest Protestant Church.<\/p>\n

Delegates voted 438 to 384 at a special session of the church\u2019s General Conference to pass what was called the Traditional Plan maintaining the church\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

Prior, delegates also had defeated The One Church Plan. This plan would have allowed individual churches to decide how they handle issues of sexuality of their clergy and same-sex weddings.<\/p>\n

In spite of emotional warnings from delegates like Rev. Tom Berlin who compared The Traditional Plan to a virus that would cause a dire sickness in America\u2019s Methodist community, it still prevailed.<\/p>\n

At this special session of the General Conference, clergy and lay members of the church were weighing in on how to a 2018 report from a special church commission on revisiting the Methodists\u2019 guiding Book of Discipline.<\/p>\n

Initially when the commission formed, the Council of Bishops said it has heard many criticisms that the Book of Discipline \u201ccontains language which is contradictory, unnecessarily hurtful and inadequate for the variety of local, regional and global contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report took a deeper look not only on sexuality but also ways to strengthen the unity of a religious body that holds a variety of views. The conference itself showed that there is a wide diversity of opinions about those views. Bishops recommended endorsing the One Church Plan.<\/p>\n

The Conference was also taking place during a period when reports came out that an increasing number of Methodist clergy have come out as a gay.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the decision has left the church split. A divide in the United Methodist Church, which has 12 million members worldwide, appears inevitable. Supporters of change are now left considering whether to remain in the church \u2013 and what the result says about the church.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Warren, a young gay delegate from the Upper New York conference, told fellow conference attendees on Monday that he evangelizes on his college campus. He has been able to reaching a diverse range of people for a significant reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said they have not heard this message before,\u201d Warren said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know God could love them, because their churches said God didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rev. Tom Berlin of Virginia also attempted to rally support for the One Church Initiative calling it the \u201conly short at change\u201d for people LGBTQ members of the church who want to be ordained and same-sex couples who want to be married.<\/p>\n

Berlin was addressing those delegates who might have withheld their vote because they felt the plan didn\u2019t go far enough. \u201cI doubt you\u2019re going to get a better offer today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While some spoke in favor of the idea others spoke against the idea. There were some who faulted the way the conversation was playing out and believed the way the plan had been discussed was harmful to the church. Cara Nicklas of Oklahoma who was also in opposition of the One Church Plan didn\u2019t like the way the impassioned debate played out over the church\u2019s competing plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy those advocating for the One Church Plan, I was either told explicitly that I am mean-spirited and unloving for holding the church\u2019s doctrine on same-sex relationships or the general tenor or the communications implied that I am unloving if I don\u2019t agree to change the church\u2019s Discipline\u2026\u201d Nicklas said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that is the message \u2013 when gay persons become convinced I don\u2019t love them because I don\u2019t condone their behavior it hurts my relationships with them,\u201d Nicklas said.<\/p>\n

Nancy Denardo, a lay delegate of western Pennsylvania, cited the Bible\u2019s mention of marriage as being between a man and woman in the Book of Matthew.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe One Church Plan does not agree with the words of our savior,\u201d Denardo said. She warned that it \u201cdeceives young persons into believe that same-gender marriage is OK with God \u2013 when it clearly it is not.\u201d<\/p>\n

We want to know what you think.<\/h3>\nTake Our Survey<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, the United Methodist Church voted to strengthen its ban on gay clergy and same-sex marriages. This is a decision that could ultimately split the country\u2019s second largest Protestant Church. 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