By Chad Groening and Jody Brown
February 27, 2002

During a convocation of nearly 1,200 female Methodist clergy, some participants staged a silent protest to support their lesbian colleagues. Mark Tooley, who directs the United Methodist Action Committee of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, says he is disappointed, but not surprised.

"I would guess that in a typical clergy women’s convocation, probably a large percentage and maybe even a majority of those who are there would be supportive of the pro-homosexual cause," he says.

Tooley says a poll revealed that a majority of clergy women who attend the denomination's last General Conference supported the homosexual agenda. He says that clearly goes against what the vast majority of ordinary Methodists believe. He adds that ordained female clergy members tend to be the liberal element of the church not only on homosexuality, but also in debates over scriptural authority and other political issues the church is involved in.

Meanwhile, a defrocked United Methodist minister credits the "women's movement" in America with getting his denomination to the point where it can discuss same-sex unions. According to AFA Journal, Jimmy Creech says resistance to same-sex unions is "still that old patriarchal model that contains rigid gender roles that are imposed on all people" -- and he believes the church's sexual ethics were not based on the teachings of Jesus, but on "Jewish, non-Christian philosophies."

Creech lost his clergy status in late 1999 after he violated Methodist church law by conducting a homosexual "wedding" ceremony for two men.

© 2002 AgapePress all rights reserved.

E-mail this page to a friend

Printer-Friendly Version

Read all of our current headlines