I see you know very little about the Methodist Church. There are many consevatives in the church mostly in the south with Texas being a major area for consrvative thought. As to the anti-terrorism bill being a threat to religious groups, my take is that if you obey the laws of the USA you have nothing to fear and that is as it should be.
Oh, that is wonderful news to hear about the UMC and churches in general in Texas....
I live in Seattle, and practically any mainline church up here is unbearably liberal including the United Methodist Church. I'm so thankful to know it's not like that in other parts of the country.
-penny