A Philadelphia preacher who told her congregation that she is in a lesbian relationship has gotten back her credentials as a United Methodist minister. A regional appeals panel of the church court voted 8-1 on Friday to reinstate Beth Stroud's credentials. She is associate minister at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown. In December, a lower church court had upheld a church law saying that gay men and lesbians must be celibate to be United Methodist ministers. But an appeals panel has ruled there were technical errors in the previous ruling -- that the church’s General Conference never dealt...
