Methodist Church Asks All Churches to Stop Marrying Until Gay marriage Legalized
A Methodist church has announced that it will not perform any marriage ceremonies until same-sex marriage is legalized. And they're asking other churches to join in their little protest, according to their website, officials at the Green Street United Methodist Church said that they ask other churches to join in the movement to “refuse to sign any State marriage licenses until this right is granted to same- sex couples.”
Members of the Leadership Council of Green Street United Methodist Church published a Public Statement on Marriage at a Press Conference on March 17, 2013 at 2 p.m. in the Sanctuary of Green Street UMC, 639 S. Green Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101.Look at them, going against the laws of the land and the teachings of their own church. Sheesh. You'd almost think they were Catholic or something.
On the matter of same-sex marriage, Green Street UMC sees injustice in the legal position of state government and the theological position of our denomination. North Carolina prohibits same-sex marriage and all the rights and privileges marriage brings. The Leadership Council has asked that their ministers join others who refuse to sign any State marriage licenses until this right is granted to same- sex couples.
Because the United Methodist Church prohibits its pastors from conducting same- sex weddings, excluding gay and lesbian couples from the holy sacrament of marriage, the Leadership Council has asked the pastor to refrain from conducting wedding ceremonies in our sanctuary for straight couples, until the denomination lifts its ban for same-sex couples.
Green Street UMC is presently the only Reconciling Congregation in the Western North Carolina Conference. With a growing number of LGBTQ members, Green Street seeks to be a public witness to its community, Conference and denomination.
12 comments:
You support religious liberty-- this is their right.
Apparently they are a Christian Church who rejects Christ. Interesting, but not surprising.
Thom,
Who's denying that they have a right to protest the state and the denomination? Ummm, no one.
Well, they are going to be waiting for a while. This is part of the North Carolina state constitution (thanks to an amendment we passed last year). The amendment can be overturned, but not without considerable effort. I'm not saying that won't happen (the trajectory is in their favor), but it will be a long while, unless the federal government forces it on the states.
It will also be a long while before the UMC agrees to allow same-sex marriage. Even the Baltimore-Washington Conference (in which I grew up) is very set on the sanctity of traditional marriage.
Actually their stance is pretty irrelevant.
"With a growing number of LGBTQ members" and now the fact that they won't be marrying any heterosexuals, I suspect that their congregation will "naturally" select toward a fully queer population. Nobody left to marry.
It's a meaningless, no-cost publicity stunt.
Sigh. A reminder. No one is denying people who suffer from Same Sex Attraction the right to marry. They are as free to marry any member of the opposite sex as any other person. This is not equal rights but special rights they want.
Brad
I always find it somewhat amusing that the "save the whales" and "green" crowd is so intent on something that is so completely against nature. Yes, environmentalism has little to do with science but we'll give them the pretense for the argument. And in nature you eat, sleep, and reproduce. Major fail on the last for same-sex couples.
ProudHillbilly, it's also interesting that the "green", "save the whales"
types-- you know, the ones who will eat only the most organic of
granolas-- think nothing of stuffing themselves with synthetic hormones
for contraceptives. Odd.
@proudhillbilly and Clinton: I thought such observations were a revelation I had or something insightful. I guess it's just obvious the inconsistent ideology they follow.
Also, the Methodist church is not a government or democracy which one can redress with protest. That's government.
The true Church, the Catholic Church, isn't going to lobby God to change his unchanging Truth because its currently trendy. I imagine God has seen this multiple times throughout the world in time and place. Nothing new. Still sinful and against natural law.
A few years ago, I found some charts on a Methodist web site that showed the number of members they had and the amount of donations recieved.
Membership was going down. Steeply. But amount of money coming in rose. It was skyrocketing. How could this be? I suspect the answer is this: somebody bought themselves a church. This is the only thing that explains their apparent attempt to commit membership suicide. Some very rich liberal millionaires must be funding their church.
So no doubt they are asking all of their members to remain celibate, since cohabitation would be sinful...probably not.
But hey, I support their right to do this if they want.
Hey Methodists - wanna get married? Convert to Catholicism.
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