Funny you should bring this up. I am a 3rd generation member of the United Methodist Church and am pretty much resigned to the fact that I will no longer be attending and supporting that church - for several reasons:
1) The anti-war letter from Sharon A. Brown Christopher President of the Council of UM Bishops and the BISHOPS' RESOLUTION ON IRAQ (adopted Nov. 8, 2002) which affirms the letter calling for peace sent to the Church by the president of the Council of Bishops.
2) Bishop Sprague: Sprague in a Jan. 28, 2002, speech at United Methodist-related Iliff School of Theology in Denver and in his recent book, Affirmations of a Dissenter, published by Abingdon Press.
"In his address and book, Bishop Sprague appears to deny the apostolic, orthodox, and ecumenical Trinitarian understanding of Jesus as God in favor of a form of Unitarianism or ‘adoptionism’ that denies the virgin birth and full deity of Christ," Lambrecht said. "He denies the physical resurrection of Christ’s body. He maintains that Jesus Christ is not the only way to salvation and appears to deny the substitutionary atonement of Christ through his sacrificial death on the cross.
I regret that you feel that necessary. Although I can understand your feelings. I remain a Methodist but am not happy with what you have cited.
Best Regards, Axel