The book catalogs goals and tactics of several conservative groups claiming they want church renewal. Usually that word means to draw the church back to a closer relationship to God and Jesus. That's not quite what is meant here, though they want you to think that. What they want is to return to a time when straight white males controlled the church. These groups include Good News, The Confessing Movement, Transforming Congregations (which pushes the idea that one can pray away the gay), and Institute for Religion and Democracy (which means religion without democracy, such as the church the Catholic Pope presides over).
This isn't just a United Methodist issue. IRD doesn't just target us and there are Presbyterian and Episcopal equivalents of the other organizations. And the Southern Baptists? Takeover complete. These denominations are targeted because they are classified as Mainline Protestant -- the ones with the largest membership.
As I read through the goals and tactics of these various groups one thing struck me: These people are bullies.
Not too surprising. They are playing from the same playbook as the GOP -- twist the truth, deliberately misinterpret an event or announcement, use highly sensationalized language, attack opponents as destroying the church, and exploit wedge issues. All with the goal of gaining power for straight white males. We can't have women controlling their own budget or monitoring how women are portrayed in denominational publications. We can't let blacks do that either. And gays? Don't get me started.
The book provides a bit of history and this is what caught my attention and prompted my urgency in writing. After WWII it was these Mainline Protestant churches that provided theological underpinning and much of the impetus for the civil rights movement and the women's liberation movement. Conservatives want to gut all the gains from that era. To do that they must take over the Mainline Protestant Churches to silence them as civil rights are rolled back.
Many conservative proposals are before General Conference this year. They include such things as gut funding for the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (the group that monitors how women are treated), take over the Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries so that all decisions are made by (unelected) men, and install a bishop as the head of the Council of Bishops that would enforce doctrine (the Methodist Pope).
I attended two events featuring Amy DeLong this weekend. More on that in a moment. At the workshop yesterday afternoon, Jill Warren, the executive director of MFSA, showed up (the one passing out the book discussed above). She lives in the Detroit area, though the office is in DC. She is a dynamo in preparing progressives (including me) to work behind the scenes during General Conference.
The United Methodist Church is rather strange in that "worldwide" means only United States, Europe, the Philippines, and Africa. At a pre-GC session Warren was sought out by delegates from Africa and the Philippines. They invited her to discuss the issues with them in Manila and Harare, Zimbabwe, which she apparently has done. She said the Filipinos are with us. As for the Africans…
We usually think of the Africans are quite conservative. After conservatives began losing ground in America, they saw a way to maintain control on the denomination by exporting their conservatism to Africa. It wasn't just United Methodists that did this. There were stories from previous General Conferences on how the American conservatives kept their African counterparts in line, such as bestowing cell phones and then calling those phones just before critical conservative votes.
But Africans are tired of having colonial masters. They want to be treated like peers and colleagues. They want to think for themselves. They want to hear both sides of an issue and make up their own minds.
I am well aware that does not mean they will all vote progressively. But it also means they won't vote as a conservative block.
Back in December I wrote this about likely progressive votes on gay issues:
70% of 606 USA delegates is about 420 (with a bit of rounding).It now looks like I can revise it this way:
There are 42 delegates from Europe, likely voting for removal [of gay prohibitions].
There are 48 delegates from the Philippines, and I don't know how they'll vote.
There are 10 delegates from elsewhere in the world.
There are 282 delegates from Africa, who will probably vote against removal.
That's for a total of 988 delegates. Half of that +1 is 495.
So, 420 + 42 = 462. We may only need 33 votes from the 58 delegates from the Philippines and elsewhere in the world. It may be a close vote.
70% of 606 USA delegates is about 420 (with a bit of rounding).Back to Amy DeLong and her visit. She is the United Methodist pastor who was put on trial last summer for (1) being a "self-avowed practicing homosexual" (as our rulebook puts it) and (2) performing a wedding ceremony for a lesbian couple.
There are 42 delegates from Europe, likely voting for removal of gay prohibitions.
There are 48 delegates from the Philippines, also likely to vote for us.
There are 10 delegates from elsewhere in the world.
There are 282 delegates from Africa, whose votes are unknown.
That's for a total of 988 delegates. Half of that +1 is 495.
So, 420 + 42 + 48 = 510. That's 15 more than are needed to approve the removal of gay prohibitions. However, we cannot be complacent.
On Friday evening she talked about her life and the trial. A few of the things I remember:
When DeLong served as a church pastor she had to be careful about talking about her partner. At a workshop the leader asked everyone to take part in an ice-breaker -- tell the person next to you about the most important thing in your life. She couldn't talk about her partner. So she talked about her cat. She doesn't own a cat.
After a while it seemed everyone knew, though never officially. The bishop would ask about her partner. Her partner moved into the parsonage. Even so, DeLong felt safer and more complete in the town saloon than she did in the church. But the inability to live authentically eventually forced her to give up direct church work.
Though not leading a congregation in 2010 DeLong was asked by a lesbian couple to perform their wedding ceremony. The couple was referred to her by another pastor. Someone later observed that other pastor wasn't willing to jeopardize his own credentials but was willing to jeopardize hers. She did the ceremony. She said it was one of the best things she has ever done. At the end of the year in summarizing her activities, she listed it. Thus the trial.
DeLong refused to sign a form stating she would no longer perform same-sex weddings and the evidence she had done that one was overwhelming, so she was convicted. As for being a "self-avowed practicing homosexual" it came to the question: Have you had sexual contact with the genitals of a person of the same sex? Her reply was, you see my partner sitting there. We have been in love for 17 years. But I will not answer your question because I refuse to reduce my relationship with her to that one thing. To us she had said, Practicing? We've been together so long we don't need any more practice. We think we've got it down. On that charge she was acquitted for lack of evidence. Her sentence was not a revocation of credentials, which could have happened, but only a 20 day suspension. There are proposals before General Conference to institute minimum sentences. These are proposed for only gay-related offenses.
Much of Saturday was taken up by a workshop. Again, DeLong did a lot of talking (lots of interesting stories). She guided us in the difference between mercy and justice. In mercy ministry one takes care of the victims of oppression, such as feeding the poor. In justice ministry one tackles the sources of oppression. Most churches only do the first. The second is a lot harder. She also guided us in the difference between repulsion, tolerance, acceptance, and appreciation.
As for what I might do next in my own church to make it more gay-friendly, I heard a lot from the stories of other churches and the suggestions they had for me.
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