United Methodist Church strengthens ban on same-sex marriage, LGBT clergy
(Reuters) - The United Methodist Church voted on Tuesday to uphold and strengthen its ban on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy in a move likely to alienate large numbers of followers who had pushed for reform.
By a vote of 438-384, delegates from around the world attending the church’s General Conference in St. Louis reinforced a United Methodist Church policy established in 1972 stating that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
Known as the Traditional Plan, the new policy includes penalties for breaking its rules and asks those who will not obey it to find another church.
The Traditional Plan is designed to serve as a coherent United Methodist Church policy on LGBT clergy and their marriage practices after years of inconsistency among individual United Methodist churches, with some churches denouncing homosexuality as a sin and others embracing gay and lesbian clergy members.
Before opting for the Traditional Plan, delegates rejected an alternative known as the One Church Plan, which would have allowed individual churches to decide whether to perform same-sex marriages and welcome gay and lesbian clergy members. Under that plan, the statement that homosexuality is at odds with Christianity would have been eliminated.
Full https://www.reuters.com/article/us-religion-lgbt-united-methodist-idUSKCN1QG022
I was a member of the Methodist Church until they started this gay stuff we left in droves our church is barely making it. Now to get a new minister I'll rejoin.