I attended Florida Annual Conference of the UMC three years in a row. Each time, I came home feeling a little dirty. In 2014, I came home and left the church. My pastor, one of the minority of UMC pastors who are conservative and bible-believing, just said, “I completely understand.”
This woman campaigned on killing unborn humans. At my last Annual Conference, an ordained pastor and Minister of the Word and Sacraments, stood up and said, “No one really knows when life begins” during an abortion debate on the floor. He was applauded.
“My pastor, one of the minority of UMC pastors who are conservative and bible-believing, just said, “I completely understand.””
About three years ago I talked with a woman I knew who was devastated that her Methodist parish - which she had attended for almost 60 years (since she was a little girl) - had just voted to bless gay marriages. She knew she could no longer attend there. You could see the pain in her eyes.