United Methodist Schools Join Homosexuality Debate

Look for the ACLU to meddle in religion and actually bring a discrimination suit to attempt to force Christians to include homosexuals in membership rolls. Imagine that: Biblical Scripture is categorically opposed to homosexuality as a sin; if the ACLU gets involved then a leftist civil rights organization will litigate on your right to believe in God. The ACLU agenda has been moving toward this very premise. It is the very reason I voice this speculation.
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Elaine Spencer
The Christian Post
Wednesday, Mar. 15, 2006 Posted: 9:19:24AM EST

An association of United Methodist schools expressed ''deep concern for the pain and alienation'' of those affected by a recent church court decision to reinstate a pastor who denied membership to an openly homosexual man.

"As United Methodist-related college and university leaders, we embrace the church's affirmation: 'Open hearts, Open minds, Open doors.' We affirm the core humanistic and religious value that all persons are of sacred worth and equal standing," the resolution, issued by the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church, stated.

The resolution was affirmed unanimously during the United Methodist Board of Higher Education’s spring board meeting in Nashville, Tenn., last Saturday, and was released in response to a Methodist Judicial Council decision that upheld a Virginia pastor’s denial of church membership to an openly gay man.

The association also expressed concern for the pain caused by the “ongoing conflicted discussion” over a separate Judicial Council decision that upheld the removal of ministerial credentials from Beth Stroud – a Pennsylvania pastor who was in an openly avowed lesbian.

The 16-million-member UMC officially holds that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings but that homosexuals are people of sacred worth. At that light, ordained United Methodist pastors are expected to refrain from engaging in homosexual relationships and celebrating homosexual unions.

When the rulings passed earlier this year, conservatives applauded the Judicial Council for upholding denominational regulations regarding homosexual behavior. However, liberals and gay-rights groups charged the church of discrimination.

While the association did not chime directly into the discussion, the group of schools called on the United Methodist Church to express its “commitment to inclusiveness” and continue walking the path of “construction tension.”

"We affirm the church in its decades-long struggle to balance an unqualified commitment to sacred worth, sacred identity and sacred practice," the resolution stated. “We encourage the church to resolve this issue in a manner that upholds the sacred worth of all human beings.”
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Contact author: Elaine Spencer
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