May 14, 2004  |  By: CHRISTOPHER SEELY  | COMMENTS     

Debate at the United Methodist General Conference earlier this month focused heavily on the role of gay men and lesbians in the church. But the denomination’s official stance that gays are “incompatible with Christian teaching” remained when the conference ended.

“I think clearly on this issue of homosexuality, the General Conference confirmed our current position and in some ways, I think, it was strengthened,” said Patricia Miller, executive director of Confessing Movement, a group opposing gay clergy members.

In the final days of the conference, which ended May 7, conservative members of the church also discussed dividing the church’s assets between those who favor gay inclusion and those who favor gay exclusion.

“There has been great disobedience in the church and if that disobedience continues, you will hear more and more talk about amicable separation,” Miller said.

But during the final day of the conference, delegates voted overwhelmingly, 869-41, in favor of a resolution to affirm unity and “commitment to work together.” The discussions of a friendly church schism were tabled, Miller said.

“There are people in the church who say we need to divide over this issue, but we need to continue to put out a voice that we are part of the church and need to respect different opinions,” said Troy Plummer, executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network, a group working for gay-inclusive Methodist policy.

Conference delegates meet every four years to discuss and update the Book of Discipline, which serves as church law for the 8.3 million members of the United Methodist Church.

Debate about the role of gays in the church has been prominent at every conference since 1972.

Taking center stage this year was the recent trial of openly gay Rev. Karen Dammann, who was acquitted on charges of being “incompatible” by a jury in Washington state earlier this year.

Methodist church code prohibits “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained as ministers, but Dammann was excused from that charge because she did not know she was a lesbian at the time of her ordination.

Confessing Movement and other conservative factions of the Methodist church, particularly in the southeastern U.S., sought for the highest Methodist court, the Judicial Council, to reverse the outcome of Dammann’s trial and strip her of her ordination.

But the Judicial Council ruled during the conference that it did not have the authority to review the findings of Dammann’s court trial.

Dammann said the conference was not cause for celebration because delegates voted to retain the “incompatibility” clause, forbid gay clergy, and extend a ban on holy unions to include gay marriages, which are scheduled to begin this month in Massachusetts.

“It comes off after General Conference that there are more restrictions and more anti-gay rhetoric actually in the Book of Discipline at this point,” Dammann said. “We’re not celebrating.”

Still, gay activists within the church are hopeful after seeing their margin of support increase since the last General Conference, according to Dammann and Plummer.

At the conference, 45 percent of delegates voted in favor of a motion to state in the Book of Discipline that Methodists disagreed over “homosexuality,” which would open the door to more inclusion, Plummer said.

Only 33 percent voted in favor of a similar resolution at the last conference, he said.

Presbyterian wins appeal
Almost a year after being terminated from his job as minister at the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church in Ohio, Stephen Van Kuiken won an appeal in a regional church appellate court April 30, allowing him to be reinstated as a Presbyterian minister.

Van Kuiken thanked members of the judicial commission that oversees Ohio and Michigan for reversing the decision of the Cincinnati church court, which ruled last June that Van Kuiken disregarded church code by marrying a same-sex couple.

But despite the victory, Van Kuiken is leaving the Presbyterian Church, saying he was only staying long enough to see the appeal to its conclusion.