Comments on: How do you piss off a United Methodist minister?

By: james

james — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:43:03 +0000

Thanks for the update and clarification, Timothy. I appreciate BTB reporting on the Minnesota United Methodist uprising. Having known a number of courageous United Methodist ministers in my time, I do not find it out of character.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:14:06 +0000

Hey guys. I’m not demeaning Methodists or being snarky. (oh heavens, have I become so cynical that anytime I write with a light touch it’s seen as mocking?)

I find it amazing that the Methodists are getting fired up. They are genuinely taking a brave stance. This is no little thing and I don’t want to undermine their efforts.

But… still… it is a bit like a fiery revolution led by accountants. It’s amazing, but also amusing.

(Or to put it in terms that fellow believers will understand, I see this as a moving of the Holy Spirit… and also an evidence of God’s perverse sense of humor).

By: pax58

pax58 — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 21:05:09 +0000

I was a United Methodist clergy for quite a while. I went through alot of counseling and came to terms with my gay self. I gave up my ordaination certificate because in the UMC you cannot be a “practising” homo only a “nonpractsing” homo to keep your ordination. Of course there are alot of don’t ask, don’t tell, but I wanted to tell about my wonderful Jewish partner. Interesting, the bishop has been opening pro-gay-she just got back from HRC in Washington DC where she protested against job discrimation of the GLBT community. It was made clear to me that she would have taken my ordination certifiicate if she knew I was having sex with my partner. So, no, the UMC is no where near being like a few other mainline churches when it comes to the rules. But I do believe we should support persons like the ones in Minnesota-unlike my former bishops, thier actions match their words, and they may pay a big price for it.

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:39:45 +0000

Yes, somebody’s trying to be cute. The fraudulent comments have been removed. The original post, which requires a secure login, is authentic.

By: james

james — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:07:27 +0000

@cowboy: did not cross my mind. The comments did seem out of character for them. I wonder if the original post is inauthentic, too, or has been altered.

My apologies to them both and to other readers.

By: cowboy

cowboy — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:03:04 +0000

Someone has hijacked Jim’s and Tim’s nom de plume. That’s not the real Tim nor Jim.

By: james

james — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:58:07 +0000

Timothy and Jim: I do not understand why you are mocking people who are taking a stand in favor of marriage equality in MN. It makes some sense to me to trash religious people who oppose marriage equality. It makes no sense to me to trash religious people who support it.

Whether or not you are personally religious, there is no doubt many Americans are. They listen to their religious leaders.

I don’t know how many United Methodists there are in MN, but hearing their pastors say “We should oppose this constitutional amendment. We should change our own church’s position” seems a good thing for gay and lesbian people.

You’d rather they take the other side?

By: Soren456

Soren456 — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:13:54 +0000

Your article is too short.

You fail to explain why you’re essentially making fun of them.

By: james

james — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 14:34:30 +0000

In the United Methodist Church, there is a single national rule prohibiting clergy from presiding at a same-gendeer wedding and it applies to all clergy. A UMC minister can lose his/her position and be banned from ministry for breaking this rule. A UMC friend of mine was suspended from his position after presiding at a same-gender wedding pre-Prop 8 — two weeks with pay, the mildest possible sanction.

These UMC pastors in MN are taking some risk on this matter. They are publicly opposing the MN constitutional amendment and publicly opposing their church’s policy and asking it be changed. The church’s policy won’t be changed unless someone takes this kind of stand.

There’s a bit of snark in this article that seems undeserved to me. Don’t we want advocates from every sector?

By: Reed Boyer

Reed Boyer — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:44:44 +0000

United Methodists being one of the largest mainstream Christian denominations, I’m delighted that they’re moving toward this.

After the ELCA Lutherans, of course, and trailing the Episcopalian schismatic publicity machine.