(AgapePress) - A conservative Methodist leader says the United Methodist Publishing House has caved into political correctness by repenting for the agency's alleged racism during the 1960s. And a surprising "sign of confession" during a repentance worship service apparently jolted those in attendance.

At a worship service late last month, the publishing house -- once known for its resistance to promoting minorities, according to the United Methodist News Service -- repented for not promoting enough black employees to administrative positions and for "perpetuating a history of not being inclusive."

Mark Tooley is director of United Methodist Action, an agency of the Institute for Religion and Democracy. He says it is important that Methodists be informed of any past racism in their church, but notes that the denomination has lost its focus.

Mark Tooley

"There's seems to be an ongoing trend among the mainline churches, including Methodists, that ... the real work of spreading the gospel -- which includes racial reconciliation -- instead is an emphasis upon repenting for things that we as individuals living today did not commit [or] things committed by our ancestors or people who many of us were never related to."

Tooley says instead of dwelling on past injustices, United Methodists should be stressing that all people, no matter what their race, can become one in Jesus Christ.

A United Methodist pastor shocked those in attendance when he used an obscene gesture at the repentance service last month. Pastor Fred Allen, who is the new executive director of the United Methodist Publishing House, stunned the crowd at Clarke Memorial United Methodist in Nashville, Tennessee, after raising his middle finger, encouraging those in the pews to do the same, and telling them to "give the bird."

Tooley confesses to seeing no correlation between the gesture and racial conciliation. "For a church leader at a church meeting to ask people to raise up their middle fingers is obviously pretty absurd and pretty coarse -- and I can't imagine anything relating to the gospel coming out of that," he says. "That's just one more example of the Church tending toward secularist tendencies as opposed to being faithful to the gospel message."

Pastor Allen said using the obscene gesture "felt good" and appropriately expressed his confession and repentance for the United Methodist Publishing House's alleged racism during the 1960s.

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