Let's see how long it will take for LD$, Inc.

They'll have to lose a lot of cash before they change their minds.


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https://apnews.com/article/united-methodist-lgbtq-clergy-general-conference-acabe18fe22b6838e3005ad8895534fa

HARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers.

Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference — the first such legislative gathering in five years. That overwhelming margin contrasts sharply with the decades of controversy around the issue. Past General Conferences of the United Methodist Church had steadily reinforced the ban and related penalties amid debate and protests, but many of the conservatives who had previously upheld the ban have left the denomination in recent years, and this General Conference has moved in a solidly progressive direction.

Applause broke out in parts of the convention hall Wednesday after the vote. A group of observers from LGBTQ advocacy groups embraced, some in tears. “Thanks be to God,” said one.

The change doesn’t mandate or even explicitly affirm LGBTQ clergy, but it means the church no longer forbids them. It’s possible that the change will mainly apply to U.S. churches, since United Methodist bodies in other countries, such as in Africa, have the right to impose the rules for their own regions. The measure takes effect immediately upon the conclusion of General Conference, scheduled for Friday.

More from the article:

“It seemed like such a simple vote, but it carried so much weight and power, as 50 years of restricting the Holy Spirit’s call on people’s lives has been lifted,” said Bishop Karen Oliveto, the first openly lesbian bishop in the United Methodist Church.


“People can live fully into their call without fear,” said Oliveto, of the Mountain Sky Episcopal Area, which includes Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. “The church we’ve loved has found a home for us.”


“Dixie Brewster, a delegate from the Great Plains Conference covering Kansas and Nebraska, called for a path for her fellow conservatives to disaffiliate smoothly. “We want a place to go peacefully,” she said. “We will not be disruptive. I do love all, I love my homosexual friends. I just view the Scriptures a different way.”


“The conference actions represent “a serious drift away from the truth,” Kulah [a delegate from Liberia] said in an interview. “The church is now buying into culture. The Bible has not changed, but the church has changed.”

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Progress. But. Slow. Slow. Slow.

It's so very sad to make people feel completely left out.

You're not good enough they say. But who appointed them judge? There are so many interpretations of the same sentence that there's no way to be 100% literal about much of anything.

I can't figure out why a person would want to join/work for a church that shuns them or at best wishes they weren't there. They have more grace than I do.

Numbers aren't always the most important consideration. Be kind to one another. I read that somewhere sometime.

That is so Jesus of you, NG. Christianity has moved so much farther. . .

I'm always behind the times!

But seriously, some segments of it I agree. It's a little on the mindboggling side, to me anyway.

One of my top aims in life has been to try and stay rational. There have been lapses, as is fairly obvious, or else I likely wouldn't be here.