Tweet
Some good news comes along now and then. Out of the Methodist Church comes a ruling that its Pastors can say, "No. You cannot be a member of my church because you are a homer."
Even though Methodists are not on the same high moral plain we at Landover Baptist, you have to say they are improving.
Methodist Court Upholds Pastor's Right to Bar, Receive Members
The United Methodist Church's highest court recently denied requests to reconsider a 2005 decision that granted a pastor the right to bar a gay man from becoming a church member.
The Judicial Council ruled last weekend to leave the decision alone.
"Let the decision rest where it may. Changing metaphors, let us not resurrect a dead horse which, by all indications, may be further beaten up," wrote Ruben T. Reyes in a concurring opinion. "There is no need to reconsider, abandon, overturn or withdraw [the decision]."
In 2005, the Rev. Ed Johnson, who was senior pastor at South Hill United Methodist Church in Virginia, was placed on an involuntary leave of absence for refusing to receive a gay man into membership. The man was a participant in the church in a variety of ways and sought to transfer membership from another denomination to the South Hill United Methodist Church.
Johnson agreed to continue to be in ministry with the man but said he would not receive him into membership in the church.
Later that year, the Judicial Council narrowly ruled in favor of Johnson, reinstating him as pastor and concluding that United Methodist ministers do have the right to determine "a person's readiness to affirm the vows of membership."
The United Methodist Church's highest court recently denied requests to reconsider a 2005 decision that granted a pastor the right to bar a gay man from becoming a church member.
The Judicial Council ruled last weekend to leave the decision alone.
"Let the decision rest where it may. Changing metaphors, let us not resurrect a dead horse which, by all indications, may be further beaten up," wrote Ruben T. Reyes in a concurring opinion. "There is no need to reconsider, abandon, overturn or withdraw [the decision]."
In 2005, the Rev. Ed Johnson, who was senior pastor at South Hill United Methodist Church in Virginia, was placed on an involuntary leave of absence for refusing to receive a gay man into membership. The man was a participant in the church in a variety of ways and sought to transfer membership from another denomination to the South Hill United Methodist Church.
Johnson agreed to continue to be in ministry with the man but said he would not receive him into membership in the church.
Later that year, the Judicial Council narrowly ruled in favor of Johnson, reinstating him as pastor and concluding that United Methodist ministers do have the right to determine "a person's readiness to affirm the vows of membership."
Even though Methodists are not on the same high moral plain we at Landover Baptist, you have to say they are improving.