It’s nice seeing mainline denominations, at least some of their members, taking strong stands for love and equality, and shucking off old, disproven dogma:
Same-sex marriage is illegal in Minnesota but 70 United Methodist clergy in the state have signed a statement saying they will marry gay couples.
“We joyfully affirm that we will offer the grace of the Church’s blessing to any prepared couple desiring Christian marriage,” reads the statement introduced this week at the 2011 Minnesota Annual Conference.
“We are convinced by the witness of others and are compelled by Spirit and conscience to act. We thank the many United Methodists who have already called for full equality and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the life of the Church.”
Heck yeah. Paging Chad Holtz. Paging Chad Holtz.
[If you Christian readers out there aren't familiar with Chad, he is one of my two favorite Christians. I think he would appreciate that endorsement.]
There is a Methodist church near me that has a sign out front that says ‘Inclusive’ — I took this as code for ‘gay friendly’. Kudos to them for their progress.
Pssst, if anti-gay pressure groups NOM/MFC succeed in banning marriage equality, these ministers will be arrested and jailed. Pass the word…
I saw the Bat Light in the sky.
Yes, I do take that as a huge compliment :)
We also had 40+ retired bishops sign a petition for the General Conf. of 2012 to change our policy on gay inclusion. One of the signees was a prof of mine at Duke, Bishop Ken Carder.
Wonderful to see this. I applaud all the signees because as Michael mentions, if the ban passes, these men and women of God will be facing possible jail time. If it is happens, sad that they are not allowed to practice THEIR faith as they see it whilst haters are allowed to practice THEIRS.