UMC bans same-sex unions

Christian Century, August 26, 1998

United methodist pastors who preside over same-sex unions may be brought before church courts and charged with disobedience, the church's highest court has ruled. The ruling, which takes effect immediately, states that the denomination's prohibition against performing gay unions, as spelled out in its Social Principles, is tantamount to church law--and not simply a guideline, as had been argued by gay-rights supporters.

The decision by the denomination's nine-member Judicial Council, meeting in Dallas in a special session August 7-8, was made public August 11. "Conduct in violation of this prohibition renders a pastor liable to a charge of disobedience to the order and discipline of the United Methodist Church," the council held. If found guilty of such conduct, a pastor could face penalties ranging from a formal reprimand to defrocking.

At issue is the church's ban on gay unions adopted by the 1996 General Conference, the 8.5-million-member denomination's top policy-making body. That prohibition reads: "Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches." In March, Jimmy Creech, then pastor of First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska, was acquitted by the slimmest of margins in a church trial because he had performed a union ceremony for two women the previous fall.

Creech and his defenders had argued that the Social Principles do not carry the same weight as church law, which is outlined in the denomination's Book of Discipline. But in an adjudication conducted at the request of bishops in the eight-state South Central Jurisdiction, the UMC high court ruled that the prohibition is church law, "notwithstanding its placement" in the Social Principles.

In oral presentations before the council, Douglas J. Williamson, a professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University, contended that the statement banning gay unions conflicts with the church's assertion that homosexuals are "persons of sacred worth" and its advocacy of equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation. But Bruce Blake, a bishop based in Oklahoma City, maintained that the Social Principles support the Book of Discipline. "When the spirit and intent of the Book of Discipline is violated, all of the book is violated," Blake told the council. "All of the book depends on each part of the book."

In dealing with the broader question of whether all statements in the Social Principles can be interpreted as church law, the council ruled that it is "unable to render a definitive decision on all the specific provisions... [in the] Social Principles without a reference to a specific paragraph." Judicial Council members serve eight-year stints with four or five new members elected at each quadrennial General Conference. The council is made up of clergy and lay leaders. Most of the latter are attorneys.

Reaction to the ruling fell along predictable lines. "This is a sad day for United Methodism," said Mark Bowman, director of the Reconciling Congregation Program, a national network of United Methodist churches that are open to homosexuals. "The church has once again sent a message of in hospitality to lesbian, gay and bisexual persons and their families and friends." However, John Ed Mathison, president of the Confessing Movement, a traditionalist group calling for reform in what it says are the denomination's liberal leanings, said he is "delighted" with the ruling. "This decision goes some distance in restoring trust in the authority of the courts of our church, a trust that has been seriously eroded by the trial in Nebraska," he said, referring to the acquittal of Creech.

But Gregory Dell, coordinator of In All Things Charity, a movement within the church that supports same sex unions, said the council's decision undermines pastoral authority: "It serves notice to every pastor that the Social Principles now become the law of the church. This is a real attempt by the church to limit the liturgical power of the pastor for which the pastor was ordained." Dell, pastor of Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago, declared that despite the ruling he intends to go forward with plans to celebrate "a service of holy union between two men" next month, fully expecting to be brought to trial if charges are filed against him for doing so. "There are going to be people forced out of our denomination," Dell added. "Maybe that's what the denomination wants at this point."

In related events that predate the August 11 announcement, the California-Nevada Annual (regional) Conference of the United Methodist Church pledged to make its local congregations "welcoming" to all people without regard to sexual orientation. The conference action came after several days of "spiritual discernment" in which the 1,600 delegates attending the June 17-21 meeting sought to understand God's will regarding homosexuality.

The conference, which has 407 churches in southern California, Nevada, Hawaii, Saipan and Guam, has been badly split by the gay issue and efforts have been made by some of its members to form a separate jurisdiction. Officials said the use of the word "welcoming" represented a new way of identifying the conference's approach to homosexuality. More common terms in use are "reconciling," used by supporters of gays, and "transforming," reflecting the belief that homosexuality is a sin but that God can transform gays and lesbians. By using the word "welcoming," a number of delegates said, they were avoiding saying they accepted or rejected a particular sexual orientation.