Sunday, Feb 9th, Rachel Zoll posted an article on the Associated Press a very good historical summary of the issue of gay marriage and the controversy within the United Methodist Church. She noted that while other mainline Protestant denominations slowly have been moving to accept gays into the clergy as well as offer rites to same sex couples, the Methodist Church for 40 years has continued to be divided on this issue.

She quoted from the Book of Discipline and its restrictions on gays and outlined some of the recent trials of pastors who have not observed those restrictions. She draws the battle lines between the Reconciling Ministries Network, The Good News, and the Wesleyan Covenant Network with their opposing views on the issue.

She gave a good and brief explanation of how the Methodist General Conference works as the legislative body of the denomination but skipped over the details of how the Judicial Council and the local bishops decide who and when to prosecute for violations of the restrictions. In fact, the church trials are highly arbitrary and depend on many factors. The divisiveness is not just between the delegates to the General Conference but also among the Council of Bishops and among the clergy, 1,100 of whom signed on to a resolution to support gay marriage. Many retired bishops and clergy have supported removing the restrictions as a matter of “biblical conscience”, and also because of the fact that they’re no longer subject to the church politics and trying to keep their jobs.

The recent news about the Methodist pastor who lost his credentials for defying the Book of Discipline by marrying his gay son is not only a sad commentary about the rigidity of the United Methodist Church polity, but it is another story in a long saga of discrimination and hypocrisy by church officials. They haven’t followed a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy; they have said it is acceptable to lie and ignore your conscience but not to tell the truth. It seems a strange irony that the new Pope appears to be assuming a more charitable and rationale approach to this ecclesiastical controversy, while the leaders of this Protestant denomination continue to insist on compliance with the letter of the law. Didn’t Jesus free us from the Pharisees?

It seems to me to be more an issue of church politics than addressing a moral dilemma. Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality even though he condemned divorce, which is acceptable in the United Methodist Church. Those who choose to proof text a few verses of scripture to support their position of hatred and discrimination risk penalty themselves for not loving the poor and the needy as the Bible tells us to do. “Love the sinner, but hate the sin” is a cop-out in that it presupposes that what God has created is sinful. It really doesn’t matter whether homosexuality is a question of choice or not. Our response to homosexuals in the church is an issue of evangelism in that Jesus commanded that we love one another without conditions and that we bring the good news of salvation to the entire world— not just to some who meet our criteria.

I don’t know if there is any interest in yet another book review, but I’ve been surprised that since I wrote my memoir this spring I’ve come across several books about being gay and Christian. Each author wrote from a different perspective and so gives a different view of reconciliation. I also found a variety of writing styles that reflected their different personalities and objectives. One simply summarized the interviews with a variety of people with different opinions on the issue and then commented on his own perspective. I recently finished Hounded by God by Joseph Gentilini that is an edited excerpt of his journals.

He is the only author I’ve read who wrote from the perspective of a practicing Catholic. His journal entries are organized by subject and then by chronology, but I found several repetitive in that they kept dealing with the same issue over and over without any resolution. Admittedly, he took on a strong opponent in challenging the church hierarchy, but I think the clash between organized religion and the LGBTQ community is more universal just the Catholic church.

I struggled with his assertion that his relationship with Christ is partially revealed through the loving relationship with his partner. I agree that their relationship is not sinful, but I believe that we first experience our love from Christ and then share it with others. He first loved us, and when we learn finally to accept and love ourselves, then we can share that love.