The United Methodists are meeting this week to consider whether it should conduct same-sex weddings, and whether gays should be ordained. Though there is a lot of pressure to support both, observers on the scene seem to think that those who are opposed have the upper hand.
The church is considering a proposal to end its prohibitions on same-sex marriage and ordaining gays and lesbians, but a rival plan to keep those policies in place appears to have more support.
The United Methodist Church is meeting in St. Louis this week to vote on whether to strengthen or end its prohibitions on same-sex marriage and ordaining gays and lesbians — a decision that could splinter the church.
The denomination has been grappling for years with how to respond to social changes that have buffeted other mainline Protestant congregations, with individual United Methodist churches adopting contradictory — and sometimes competing — practices. At some churches, clergy members have come out as gay or lesbian from the pulpit, while other pastors have preached that homosexuality is a sin.
You can see the problem: The Bible is Inerrant, its condemnation of homosexuality is unambiguous, and Godly people aren’t supposed to go around having their very own thoughts.
The naysayers can point to 2000-years of unbroken tradition, and the rest have nothing going for them but … science and ordinary human decency — neither of which has ever had much influence in religious affairs.
Almost certainly, the Methodists will end up going the route of every other denomination that has sought a solution that makes everybody happy; they will fail, because the differences are irreconcilable, and split into ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ Methodist denominations. They will then spend years fighting over the ownership of church property and assets et cetera, as the Presbyterians and Episcopalians did.
This is a good thing. When they’re battling each other they aren’t busy evangelizing and screwing-up children’s minds with a lot of sewage about how they’re no damn good. Keep your fingers crossed.