The United Methodist Church leadership has voted to submit a proposal to the 2016 General Conference that would remove “prohibitive” language about homosexuality from the United Methodist Book of Discipline.
The proposal removes homosexuality and the performance of same-sex weddings from the church’s list of chargeable offenses. Under the proposal, United Methodist pastors would be able to perform same-sex marriages in churches.
The Connection Table group voted 26-10 with one abstaining to submit the proposal.
Bishop Bruce R. Ough, chairman of the Connectional Table, said the group had a "very thoughtful, respectful heartfelt discussion and earnest desire to discern God's will."
But Jennifer LeClaire, senior editor of Charisma, disagrees. She says pastors are supposed to teach people the “difference between the holy and profane.”
“If we're going to condone the practice of homosexuality, what's stopping us from allowing pastors to commit adultery without rebuke?” she wrote in a column for Charisma. “Why not let drunken revelers lead kids church? Why not give greedy thieves and extortioners the responsibility for church finances?
“The point is, practicing homosexuality is not the only sin the Bible calls out in this verse, as so many gay rights activists like to stress,” she added “So why does the sinful practice of homosexuality, then, get special protection?”
Publication date: May 22, 2015
