United Methodists

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Methodists Are Now OK With LGBTQ Clergy

Ban on 'self-avowed practicing homosexuals' is overwhelmingly shot down

(Newser) - United Methodist delegates repealed their church's long-standing ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference—the first such legislative gathering in five years, reports the AP...

United Methodist Churches Split Over LGBTQ+ Issues

Congregations are approved to leave North Georgia, Iowa groups

(Newser) - Divisions over LGBTQ+ issues are costing the United Methodist Church's North Georgia Conference 261 of its nearly 700 congregations. In a vote Saturday, the conference approved the church's requests to leave, effective at the end of the month, CNN reports. They will no longer be allowed to use...

United Methodists Agree to Historic Split

Those who oppose gay marriage will form their own denomination

(Newser) - The United Methodist Church looks poised to allow same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy for the first time in its history—but it'll come at a cost. The nation's third-largest denomination will fracture as a result, as soon as May, reports the Washington Post . An agreement announced Friday—signed...

United Methodists Edge Toward Breakup

LGBT policies are the sticking point

(Newser) - There's at least one area of agreement among conservative, centrist, and liberal leaders in the United Methodist Church: America's largest mainline Protestant denomination is on a path toward likely breakup over differences on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT pastors, the AP reports. The differences have simmered for...

Conservatives Prevail in Methodist LGBT Vote

Church will strengthen ban on same-sex marriage

(Newser) - The United Methodist Church, America's second-largest Protestant denomination, faces a likely surge in defections and acts of defiance after delegates at a crucial conference voted Tuesday to strengthen the faith's divisive bans on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT clergy. Emotions were high throughout the third and final...

Church Reinstates Pastor Booted Over Son's Gay Wedding

Frank Schaefer can't be punished for refusing to perform future ceremonies

(Newser) - The Methodist church reinstated the pastor who officiated at his gay son's wedding today, overturning an earlier decision to defrock him for refusing to never perform another same-sex ceremony. Frank Schaefer is headed back to the pulpit, where the AP notes he'll collect back pay. The appeals panel...

Pastor Defrocked Over Son's Gay Wedding

Church gave Rev. Frank Schaefer an ultimatum, and he refused

(Newser) - The United Methodist Church dropped the hammer today on a Pennsylvania pastor who'd performed his son's same-sex wedding, defrocking him entirely. The church board decided Rev. Frank Schaefer's fate in a meeting that lasted just 15 minutes, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The church had convicted him last...

Church Convicts Pastor Who Held Son's Gay Wedding

Frank Schaefer could be defrocked over 2007 ceremony

(Newser) - A Methodist minister could lose his credentials after performing his son's gay wedding. A church trial yesterday in Pennsylvania found the Rev. Frank Schaefer guilty of violating church law, the AP reports; proceedings to decide the penalty—anything from a reprimand to defrocking—begin today. During the Methodist trial,...

NC Church Refuses to Perform Straight Weddings
NC Church Refuses to Perform Straight Weddings
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Mar 23, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

NC Church Refuses to Perform Straight Weddings

Until same-sex marriage is legal

(Newser) - If gay people aren't allowed to get married, then no one's getting married. That's the position the Green Street United Methodist Church is taking. The church in Winston-Salem, NC, will refuse to conduct any weddings or sign any marriage licenses, straight or otherwise, until same-sex marriage is...

200 Methodist Clergy Flout Church Ban on Gay Unions

Illinois group will risk jobs to perform same-sex ceremonies

(Newser) - An Illinois coalition of some 200 Methodist clergy has agreed to bless same-sex unions in defiance of church policy. Clergy members risk their jobs by doing so, but they’re urging the worldwide Methodist Church to limit punishment to a 24-hour suspension, reports the Chicago Tribune . Civil unions were legalized...

Wis. Pastor Who Married Gays Could Be Defrocked

Rev. Amy DeLong awaits sentencing from Methodist jury of clergy

(Newser) - A gay Methodist pastor from western Wisconsin will soon find out her penalty for officiating at a 2009 lesbian wedding. The Rev. Amy DeLong never denied the action, which prompted this week's church trial in Kaukauna. A jury of clergy convicted her yesterday; she was found not guilty of...

Methodist Ministers Defy Ban on Marrying Gays

California clergy members ignoring church ban on officiating gay weddings

(Newser) - Methodist ministers in California are revolting against religious edicts that forbid them from performing same-sex marriages, the Los Angeles Times reports, in a struggle that many consider "the civil rights cause of their generation." Dozens of Methodist pastors have officiated at gay and lesbian weddings since they were...

12 Stories