United Methodist Continue to Push for Homosexual Rights
- Millions of United Methodists have been waiting and wondering where their denomination will ultimately land in a decades-long dispute over gay marriage and clergy—and if a major split over the issue is imminent or if the debate will continue at its general conference once again next year.
The council—a nine-member panel that essentially functions as the UMC’s Supreme Court—was tasked with reviewing the recently adopted legislation to ensure that it didn’t violate the denomination’s constitution, which contains guidelines about church structures and processes.
The Judicial Council’s ruling today was, as expected, a mixture of approval and rejection of the various pieces of the “Traditional Plan” at stake.
The top court rejected legislation that would have:
- added accountability for bishops who did not enforce the church’s rules;
- required denominational leaders to certify that they would abide by the rules;
- required a board of conduct “examination to ascertain whether an individual is a practicing homosexual.”
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