United Methodists gather for crucial session

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Western Pennsylvania was a hub for organizing new conservative, breakaway Presbyterian, Anglican and Lutheran denominations.

Area United Methodists, while ranging in opinions, tend toward conservative views on sexuality.

link

I went to the methodi$t $unday $chool when I was a kid, didn't believe it then and definitely don't believe it now.

Al

[RKP5637]

1. I left and never looked back!!! n/t

[davsand]

2. I got married in a Methodist church in 1995. That almost didn't happen.

In our third pre-marital counseling session (required at the time) the minister asked what role the church would play in our married life. Soon-to-be husband starts sliding away from me as I answered. Minister was not terribly thrilled when I answered the church was not going to be part of our lives, and he had to know WHY. I explained that I found the intolerance of LGBT people unacceptable, and not anything I wanted to participate in. It evolved into an extended discussion about the reality that certain churches had more liberal views than others and that we might want to look for a Methodist church that agreed with us.

It makes me sad that so many churches have chosen to self destruct based on one solitary issue that will probably die right along with the old membership. I'm not anti-religion. I'm not anti-church. I am all for churches living up to the standards they claim to support--like love, acceptance, and being good to each other.

FWIW, there were a lot of gay people in the church that day when we got married. They are still part of our lives, and the church still is not.




Laura

[Wounded Bear]

3. Yeah, a lot of churches think of ceremonies and rites...

like marriage and funerals are not much more than recruitment rallies.

Religion is a business and they need to keep expanding their clientele.

[Irishxs]

4. Methodists Do Not Reflect Today's USA

Their stance on gay marriage is way behind majority views today. I never cared for the fact that the congregation can’t choose their own pastors.

[Aristus]

5. The Free Methodist Church tends to be more liberal than the UMC.

But I'm grateful to the Methodists in general for indirectly ensuring that I could grow up in a liberal household.

My mother grew up in rural Alabama, and later on Air Force bases in Texas, and attended her parents' Southern Baptist church. She was repelled by the church's misogyny, racism, and conservatism, and joined her local Methodist church, which her parents weren't happy about.

The pastor at the Methodist church was a beloved local progressive who ended up officiating at my parents' wedding. The Methodists helped my mother become an out-and-proud liberal. The pastor died long ago, but his daughter is an ordained Methodist minister and a vocal liberal Democrat. In Texas.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

6. Plus this.