CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (RNS) — United Methodists concluded their General Conference on Friday (May 3) by removing the last barriers to full equality of LGBTQ+ members in the life of the church.After repealing a 52-year-old declaration on Thursday that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching,” delegates on Friday went further, eliminating a passage in their Book of Discipline, or church law, that states: “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.”
They also eliminated provisions that would have charged clergy with immorality if they were not “faithful in a heterosexual marriage” or “celibate in singleness.” Instead, delegates supported adding a requirement of integrity in all personal relationships.
Earlier in the week they dropped a ban on the ordination of gay clergy. Most of the measures passed by a 3-1 margin.
The effect of all those measures was to expunge from the rulebook all punitive measures against LGBTQ+ people, a striking change for a denomination. The reversals came in the wake of — and were in part made possible by — a schism that saw the departure of more than 7,600 congregations, or about a quarter of its U.S. churches, over the past five ye …
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They also eliminated provisions that would have charged clergy with immorality if they were not “faithful in a heterosexual marriage” or “celibate in singleness.” Instead, delegates supported adding a requirement of integrity in all personal relationships.
Earlier in the week they dropped a ban on the ordination of gay clergy. Most of the measures passed by a 3-1 margin.
The effect of all those measures was to expunge from the rulebook all punitive measures against LGBTQ+ people, a striking change for a denomination. The reversals came in the wake of — and were in part made possible by — a schism that saw the departure of more than 7,600 congregations, or about a quarter of its U.S. churches, over the past five ye …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]