United Methodist conference begins to drop contentious rules restricting LGBTQ clergy

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnCHARLOTTE, N.C. (RNS) — United Methodists meeting at their quadrennial General Conference began shedding some of the contentious rules restricting gays and lesbians that have torn apart the global denomination in recent years.In an orderly morning meeting Tuesday (April 30), a series of rules were dissolved as part of a packet of 106 agenda items with no debate on the floor of the Charlotte Convention Center. 
They were part of long-awaited motions that over the course of the conference, which concludes on Friday, may result in the nation’s second largest Protestant group officially dropping some, or all, of its LGBTQ restrictions.
Those restrictions have been at the forefront of a schism in the United Methodist Church that has led to the departure of some 7,600 traditionalist churches across the United States from 2019-2023— about 25% of the total number of U.S. churches.
Among the items that fell away Tuesday were a ban on bishops ordaining LGBTQ candidates for ministry, and a series of mandatory minimum penalties for clergy who officiate same-sex weddings. Both items were adopted by the General Conference in 2019 under the so-called Traditional Plan that solidified restrictive policies on homosexuality. Another ban, on funding for LGBTQ affinity groups or ministries, is much older. It too …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]