While the battle over gay marriage is being fought heatedly in the courts and legislatures, the rightful place of gays in religious life is being agonized over as well. Perhaps it is wishful thinking, but it seems to me the deliberations of a Methodist "court" is a remarkable synecdoche of the nation's concerns and, perhaps, ultimate judgment on the matter:
- After a three-day trial, a jury of fellow ministers acquitted an Ellensburg, Wash., pastor of violating United Methodist Church law by living openly as a lesbian, saying the church has not clearly declared homosexuality to be incompatible with Christian teaching.
Yesterday's verdict is a milestone for liberals in the church who want to reverse its ban on "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" in the clergy, and it is a defeat for conservatives seeking to hold the line against the gay rights movement in the church and in secular society.
If the Rev. Karen Dammann had been convicted, she could have lost her job as pastor of the 200-member First United Methodist Church in rural Ellensburg and been permanently removed from the ministry.
Methodists on both sides of the issue predicted that the decision would reverberate through the 8.3 million-member denomination, much as the consecration of a gay bishop has embroiled the Episcopal Church in a debate between the authority of scriptural passages that condemn homosexuality and the desire to be an inclusive, tolerant religious community.
....Under church rules, a conviction requires at least nine votes, or two-thirds of the 13 jurors. Eleven jurors voted not guilty, and two were undecided.
In a written statement, the jury said it reached its decision "after many hours of painful and prayerful deliberation and listening for and to the word of God." Although it found Dammann to be a "self-avowed practicing homosexual," the jury said it did not have "clear and convincing evidence" that she was guilty of the charge of "practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings."
"We searched the discipline and did not find a declaration that 'The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,' " the jury said. "We did see in the discipline many declarative statements. An example is: 'Inclusiveness means openness, acceptance and support that enables all persons to participate in the life of the church, the community and the world. Thus, inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination.' "
Article comments
1 - Mac Diva
Good post! If someone had told me this would be happening even a year ago I would not have believed it. It seems just yesterday that we spent all of 20 minutes discussing gay rights in an advanced con law class in law school. The topic was considered not to merit more than touching on. Now, the times have outpaced both law and religion and they will need to catch up.
2 - Eric Olsen
Thanks MD, the way these things seems to work in years of "behind the scenes work" which seem to yild little or no fruit, and then some catalyst kicks in and huge changes happen very quickly. It's kind of like plate tectonics.