OR
Posted on 11/19/2014 10:32:49 AM PST by ilovesarah2012
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Two homosexual men in North Carolina have filed a complaint against their United Methodist minister for refusing to “marry” them, stating that he has failed “to perform the work of the ministry.”
Scott Chappell and Kenneth Barner, who attend Green Street United Methodist Church in Winson-Salem, filed the complaint with the Western North Carolina Office of the United Methodist Church late last month, charging their leader, Kelly Carpenter (male), with discrimination.
“On October 26, 2014, we asked Carpenter to officiate at our wedding and he has refused to do so, citing church rules from the United Methodist Book of Discipline that forbids pastors from celebrating homosexual unions or performing same-sex wedding ceremonies,” the complaint reads. “Carpenter’s refusal to perform our wedding violates our rights as members of his church and my fiance and I wish to charge him for this offense.”
It further outlines that Chappell and Barner are “active members” of the congregation, and that Barner is “the current chair of the Leadership Council and often leads the praise and worship portion of the service.” The two became “engaged” during a Sunday service before the congregation.
(Excerpt) Read more at christiannews.net ...
ALINSKY RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)
But some are wondering whether the complaint is actually an orchestrated effort by both Chappell and Barner, along with Carpenter, to seek to change the denomination’s stance on same-sex “marriage.” Carpenter told the United Methodist News Service that he declined to officiate the ceremony because he feared the consequences, but stated that “If there was a way for me to be a co-signer with the complaint, [I would].”
I and many others have been saying this would happen. Part of the bigger goal of destroying Christianity in America. My guess Obama and Holder will support them.
This is a scam. The minister is in on it. They are actually protesting our denominational rules and the 3 of them have set this up inside their own church pretending that our rule against homosexual marriage is contradicted by our rules about being supportive of people in general.
I got this in the mail a few days ago:
Concocting a Conflict
By Walter Fenton
In a barely veiled attempt to create conflict where there is none, a gay couple in North Carolina has filed a complaint against their United Methodist pastor for refusing to preside at their same-sex wedding. But there is a catch to this case — the pastor is clearly in on the ruse.
The Rev. Kelly Carpenter and Green Street UM Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, are the very same pastor and congregation that made headlines in March 2013 when they decided not to hold any weddings, hetero- or homosexual, in their church until the denomination lifts its ban on same-sex marriage.
According to Carpenter, the complaint filed by Kenneth Barner and Scott Chappell is “right on the money,” and if it were possible, he said he would serve as a co-signer of the charges brought against him.
Clearly this is another publicity stunt on the part of the church and its pastor to highlight a non-existent conflict in the UM Church’s Book of Discipline. According to the complaint, Carpenter is guilty of a “failure to perform the work of ministry” because he will not preside at the gay couple’s service, and therefore, he is also engaging in gender discrimination, another chargeable offense according to the Discipline.
The illogicality of this ruse is patently obvious. No clergy person who refuses to preside at a same-sex service is guilty of “gender discrimination.” Pastors who refuse to preside at such services do so because they are explicitly forbidden to officiate at same-sex services or weddings. Gender discrimination does not enter into it.
Under Carpenter’s and the couple’s twisted logic, a pastor could be accused of “gender discrimination” for refusing to preside at a wedding service for a man who wanted to marry another woman while still remaining married to a first or second wife. But perhaps this is what some progressives are ultimately angling for - the blessing of any unions people desire.
This publicity stunt further demonstrates that most progressives prefer to play legal games with the BOD rather than demonstrate the courage of their convictions. If the pastor and Green Street’s leadership council are truly exercised by the denomination’s prohibition against same-sex weddings, why not have Carpenter courageously preside at the couple’s service right in the church’s sanctuary, and then all suffer the consequences of the act?
UM liberals talk a good game about ecclesiastical disobedience, but they are seldom willing to pay the price for it. They enjoy the publicity their stunts bring, but then do everything they can to avoid the consequences. One does wonder how some progressives would survive in their own denomination where they could preside at as many same-sex weddings as they liked. But of course it’s no fun being a rebel when no one cares.
Walter Fenton is a United Methodist clergyperson and an analyst for Good News.
OR
Government making people do things such as this is establishing a government religion and violates our rights.
About time we take this country back!
O Yack Lord. ¿Quien es mas macho?
Another set up.
I had an uncle who was a devout southern baptist preacher; when my wife and I decided to get married we asked him to perform the service...h refused based on his beliefs. Yes, both my wives were female.
Anyway his biblical belief was against marrying anyone that had been married before, and both my 2nd wife had been previously we’d.
It seemed a little strange to me, after all, he was my dad’s brother. But I didn’t file charges or even complain...those were his beliefs and I respected them.
I suspect all this about gays is just another form of redneck lottery, looking for someone to sue, or at least get publicity for their “cause”.
They seem to be looking harder for someone to refuse them instead of providing a service.
Uno es muerte....................
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join these two depraved perverts is a state of unholy but state recognized union......”
Doesn’t surprise me a bit. Lawrence v. Texas was a set-up as well.
EMBRACE POLE SMOKERS . . . OR ELSE!
“YOU LOOK MAAAAAAAHVELOUS!!!”
It is completely inappropriate for anyone to get engaged during the middle of a church service. The fact that this was allowed to happen suggests that this entire “complaint” is a setup meant to push the leftist United Methodist Church to allow their pastors to perform homosexual marriages. The pastor is likely in on the setup, an “incident” has to take place in order for there be reason for discussion and voting at the synod level of this church. This is all a big show.
Can’t say I’m surprised.
Give an inch, these people take a mile!
Isn’t such deceit an affront to God?
Some of our clergy at my UMC are chomping at the bit to marry same-sex couples. One of them was married to a “gay” man before he abandoned her and the kids. The real question isn’t whether the UMC will marry same-sex couples. I think that is inevitable because of the legality. The question is whether a same-sex marriage constitutes a non-adulterous relationship in the eyes of the church.
See #24
Of course but when has that ever stopped people who view the church as an opportunity to push a political agenda?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.