United Methodist Church on Edge of Breakup Over Gays

Demonstrators at UMC General Conference.

First it was the Episcopal Church, then it was the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , a/k/a the ELCA (to which I remain a member), and now it is the United Methodist Church which is about to tear itself apart over the issue of gays, sames sex marriage and LGBT clergy.  In the case of the first two denominations, those who chose to cling to the Bronze Age myths and legends found in selected passages of the Old Testament left their denomination. Here in Virginia Episcopalians found themselves caught in legal battles with elements aligning with African Anglican archbishops (some of whom seemingly authorized anti-Muslim massacres) over ownership of church properties (the break away elements lost) and large ELCA parishes aligned themselves with the Southern Baptist want to be Lutheran Missouri Synod. Fox News looks at the impending schism which is more personal to me since a college and law school classmate is one of the pro-gay delegates at the United Methodist Church General Conference in St. Louis.  Here are article highlights (note how the "conservatives" are aligned with African segments of the UMC which, like the Anglicans rely on ignorance and lack of education of the populace to cling to power and control):

The United Methodist Church teetered on the brink of breakup Monday after more than half the delegates at an international conference voted to maintain bans on same-sex weddings and ordination of gay clergy.

Their favored plan, if formally approved, could drive supporters of LGBT inclusion to leave America's second-largest Protestant denomination.

A final vote on rival plans for the church's future won't come until Tuesday's closing session, and the outcome remains uncertain. But the preliminary vote Monday showed that the Traditional Plan, which calls for keeping the LGBT bans and enforcing them more strictly, had the support of 56 percent of the more than 800 delegates attending the three-day conference in St. Louis.

The primary alternative proposal, called the One Church Plan, was rebuffed in a separate preliminary vote, getting only 47 percent support. Backed by a majority of the church's Council of Bishops in hopes of avoiding a schism, it would leave decisions about same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT clergy up to regional bodies and would remove language from the church's law book asserting that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching."

Monday's voting did not kill the One Church Plan but makes its prospects on Tuesday far more difficult.

As evidence of the deep divisions within the faith, delegates Monday approved plans that would allow disaffected churches to leave the denomination while keeping their property.

Formed in a merger in 1968, the United Methodist Church claims about 12.6 million members worldwide, including nearly 7 million in the U.S. While other mainline Protestant denominations, such as the Episcopal and Presbyterian (U.S.A.) churches, have embraced the two gay-friendly practices, the Methodist church still officially bans them, even though acts of defiance by pro-LGBT clergy have multiplied and talk of a possible breakup has intensified.

The strong showing for the Traditional Plan reflects the fact that the UMC, unlike other mainstream Protestant churches in the U.S., is a global denomination. About 43 percent of the delegates in St. Louis are from abroad, mostly from Africa, and overwhelmingly support the LGBT bans.

"We Africans are not children in need of Western enlightenment when it comes to the church's sexual ethics," the Rev. Jerry Kulah, dean at a Methodist theology school in Liberia, said in a speech over the weekend. "We stand with the global church, not a culturally liberal church elite in the U.S."

Like the Roman Catholic Church, long term, the UMC seems bent on becoming a smaller, Africa based church. With anti-gay positions being the largest driver of Millennials from organized religion, expect the conservative remants of the UMC to shrink even more over time.