أدلة مبررة للموافقة على إدراج المثليين في الكنيسة
ردود أفعال الكنائس الأخرى على قضية المثليين
ردود أفعالنا تجاه قضية المثليين
مؤشرات واضحة تتعلق بتبني المبادئ الغير إلهية في نظام الكنيسة
موقف الكنيسة النظامية المتحدة تجاه إدراج المثليين في نظام الكنيسة
By now, you have likely heard that The United Methodist Church's General Conference meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina (April 23-May 3, 2024) took action to remove from the Book of Discipline all language that restricts or singles out non-heterosexual people for disparate treatment.
That is true. As proponents of the removal of this language would say, this returns the Book of Discipline to its pre-1972 "neutral" stance on homosexuality. This article, substantially updated just after the 2020/2024 General Conference, seeks to clarify where the denomination stands during this "in-between time" between now and January 1, 2025, when most General Conference legislation goes into effect.
Some actions of the 2020/2024 General Conference have immediate effect.
The chargeable offenses for clergy being found to be "self-avowed practicing homosexual" or for presiding at a same-sex marriage or union ceremony are deleted.
The footnote describing what a "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" is, is gone.
Clergy who were required to surrender their credentials because they were previously convicted of being a self-avowed practicing homosexual or because they presided at a same-sex marriage or union service may apply for readmission to their clergy session. And general agencies are no longer prohibited to use funds to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.
All of this means that United Methodist clergy are now free to preside at same-sex marriage or union ceremonies where they are legal, and they are equally free not to do so. The boards of trustees of local churches are likewise free to recommend building use policies on whether same-sex marriage or union ceremonies may or may not take place on that particular local church property, and church councils are free to decide whether to enact them. And district committees on ordained ministry, conference boards of ordained ministry, and the clergy sessions of annual conferences are no longer required to reject candidates on the basis of their sexual orientation or status as a person married to or in a domestic partnership with another person of the same sex. And should general agencies wish to develop resources that express acceptance of homosexuality as a human reality, they are now free to do so.