United Methodist divorce nears as progressives moves further left
After decades of fighting about sex, many hoped "traditionalists" and "progressives" could keep "United" attached to "Methodist."
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After decades of fighting about sex, many hoped "traditionalists" and "progressives" could keep "United" attached to "Methodist."
When United Methodists finally split, conservatives will build a church defined "by who they will exclude today and who they will exclude tomorrow."
On a morning about 10 years ago, the Rev. Amy DeLong woke up in disbelief that she was still a reverend. The day before — June 23, 2011 — she had stood trial at Peace United Methodist Church in Kaukauna on two charges. She had officiated a wedding between two women and she herself was in a lesbian relationship — or in the church's language, was a "self-avowed, practicing homosexual." LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings were, and continue to be, forbidden by the United Methodist Church, a body of over 12 million members globally that has in recent years threatened to split over its...