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Dozens of United Methodist clergy members came out as lesbian, gay or bisexual on Monday, defying their church's ban on "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" serving in ministry and essentially daring their supervisors to discipline them. In a public letter posted online, 111 pastors, deacons, elders and candidates for ministry said church rules require "that we not bring our full selves to ministry, that we hide from view our sexual orientations and gender identities." "While some of us have been lucky to serve in places where we could serve honestly and openly, there are others in places far more hostile, who continue...

Should young children be indoctrinated in LGBTQ ideology in United Methodist Vacation Bible Schools and Sunday schools? The answer is a resounding "YES" if the LBGTQ "reconciling" movement in my denomination gets its way. This was the focus of a workshop at last Saturday's "Winter Warming" retreat for activist supporters of the extraordinarily well-funded Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN). RMN is the main unofficial caucus group devoted to promoting the LGBTQ liberationist cause. It boasts of having over 32,000 "Reconciling United Methodists," but a spokeswoman at this event admitted that they count anyone who receives their emails or newsletters (some of...

The United Methodist Church has rejected an Intelligent Design group's request to have an information table at the denomination's 2016 General Conference. Reaffirming a decision from December, the UMC's Commission on the General Conference decided last week to not allow the Seattle-based Discovery Institute an information table at the Mainline Protestant denomination's gathering in Portland, Oregon. Diane Degnan, spokeswoman for the UMC, told The Christian Post that this was the first General Conference to allow for "outside exhibitors." "The Commission on the General Conference determined that the application by the Discovery Institute did not meet the guidelines established for exhibitors...

Emma Akpan is a faith leader at her North Carolina African Methodist Episcopal Church. She also volunteers for Planned Parenthood. Akpan wrote a column for Bustle this week trying to justify her abortion advocacy with her Christian faith by claiming that she wants to end violence against women. Akpan described herself a minister at her church. “I am a clinic greeter because of my faith, which teaches me how important it is to provide care for my community,” the Raleigh, North Carolina, woman wrote. “For me, that means ensuring that women have safe access to their health care facilities.” Akpan,...

“Economics is the method; the object is to change the soul.” So said Margaret Thatcher. The Iron Lady always believed that democratic capitalism involved the transformation of values as much as it did the improvement of Britain's ailing GDP. Yet few people are aware that Thatcher was a woman of profound faith. She had been a lay Methodist preacher while a student at Oxford University. Later, she would transfer this missionary energy from the pulpit to the political podium. The solid Christian base for Margaret Thatcher's politics goes back to her strict Methodist upbringing and, more specifically, to her father...

FULL TITLE: Man proposes to his boyfriend in Texas Methodist Church that prohibits gay marriage - and gets a standing ovation from the congregation A Texas man gave his boyfriend a proposal to remember when he got down on one knee in front of the entire congregation at their local Methodist Church – receiving a standing ovation in the process. Trevor Harper, 36, and Davis Covin, 30, who live in Austin, have been dating since 2006 and have been proud and active members of the First United Methodist Church of Austin for the past two years. Mr Harper said the...

Rocky Mount United Methodist Church decided what to do with the gully behind their church–they built a gun range and launched a gun range ministry “in the name of Jesus Christ.”

One measure of the decline of mainline social justice activism can be found in a recent Facebook exchange between the Methodist civil rights leader Maxie Dunnam and the Methodist civil rights official Bill Mefford. Dunnam was a heroic opponent of Jim Crow as a young pastor in Mississippi and went on to become the president of Asbury Theological Seminary. He also happens to believe in the historic Christian understanding of marriage, so in response to Obergefell v. Hodges, he made the following post on his Facebook wall:To which Mefford, the “Director of Civil and Human Rights” for the United...

From pro-choice Methodist Minister John M Swomley: “There is also covert violence in the idea that women should not have sexual intercourse if they don’t want children. An act of sexual intercourse is not an implied contract to have children. While this may be the belief of those who accept the doctrine that every sexual act must be open to procreation, it would be violent for any government to decide that such a sectarian doctrine should be enforced against anyone, Catholic or non-Catholic, who does not accept that teaching.” John M Swomley Compulsory Pregnancy: The War against American Women (Amherst,...

A recent Gallup poll, "Moral Acceptability: Changes Over Time," shows Americans made a startling move to the left over the past 15 years. A blanket blaming of the church is the easy answer, but today, where black and white has faded into varying shades of gray, we are better served going back to where it began because we didn't get where we are today overnight. America's moral decline began with Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt [FDR]. Their arrogant defiance and blatant hostility toward the U.S. Constitution inspired them to lead an insurrection from the Oval Office, effectively convincing...

In a presentation that he acknowledged is “sobering,” Dr. Donald House Sr. warned that The United Methodist Church has only 15 years to reverse its decline in the United States. This week’s presentation from House – a life-long United Methodist and trained economist – came to church leaders at the Connectional Table and General Council on Finance and Administration joint meeting held in Nashville, Tennessee. (See the UM News Service article for additional information.) “By 2030, the denomination in the United States will either have found a way to turn around, meaning it is growing, or its turnaround in the...

Pro-choice Methodist minister John M Swomley who was the subject of a LifeNews article in May, attempts to refute the claim that preborn babies are “innocent.” The argument appeared in a book over a decade old, but it is so strange and disturbing that I’m writing about it now that it has come to my attention. The gist of Swomley’s argument is that preborn babies are not “innocent” as pro-lifers claim, but are actually guilty – guilty enough, he implies, to justify aborting them. Swomley first tries to refute the baby’s claim to innocence using theology: The first claim is...

The United Methodist Church has been a subject of controversy for years as it supports legalized abortion within the context of supposedly being a Christian denomination. Now, one pro-life advocate has uncovered a quote from a Methodist pastor who says that caring about unborn babies who die in abortions is “idolatry.” Sarah Terzo, who has a knack for documenting the history of the abortion debate and the abortion advocacy movement by posting quotes from pro-abortion activists through the years, posted a new quote today that features Minister John M Swomley. Swomley is an ordained United Methodist minister, Terzo explains and,...

New Evangelization, where art thou? The Pew Research Center reports that the number of Americans who identify as Christian has fallen sharply, to the tune of nearly eight percentage points in only seven years.  The survey, carried out in 2014, was the second "Religious Landscape Study" Pew conducted since 2007. Based on the 35,000 people the institute interviewed, the American populace is 21% Catholic. It was 23.9% seven years ago.  While the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian dropped from 78.4% in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014, non-Christian religions are growing. Islam showed the greatest gains, growing half a percentage point...

In a must-read column for the Wall Street Journal, Rev. Donald Sensing, a Methodist minister from Tennessee, argues that acceptance of same-sex marriage “will not cause the degeneration of the institution of marriage; it is the result of it.” Understand that Rev. Sensing is not happy with the situation as he sees it. “I believe that this state of affairs is contrary to the will of God,” he writes. But he argues persuasively that the public understanding of marriage was doomed when society accepted the Pill, and thereby severed the link between marriage and procreation. Marriage, he observes, had traditionally...

This is disgusting. I've seen some pro-aborts become enamored with all sorts of pagan oddities such as reincarnation to justify their support of killing the unborn. Thanks to Newsbusters for exposing this icky crazy story:A three-year-old named Lee defends the abortion of his sister in a new children’s book – by an author with her own “ghost sister.” “Sister Apple, Sister Pig” by Mary Walling Blackburn focuses on an adult topic: abortion. The story follows Lee as he (or “she,” as the author stressed) searches for his sister – who might be an apple, a pig, or somewhere in a...

Wal-Mart Fights Bid to Curb Gun Sales New York’s Trinity Wall Street Church Challenges Assault-Rifle Sales By Joann S. Lublin and Paul Ziobro March 22, 2015 7:38 p.m. ET A U.S. appeals court showdown looms next month for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in a case with potentially broad impact on how much influence investors can have over their companies. The dispute concerns Wal-Mart’s sales of assault rifles with high-capacity magazines. New York’s Trinity Wall Street church wants shareholders to vote on a resolution calling on Wal-Mart’s board to review management decisions to sell the weapons, as well as other products that...

WASHINGTON — St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco is getting bad press this week over a sprinkler system it installed to keep homeless people from sleeping on church grounds. People are outraged that a church would treat the poor so callously. But St. Mary’s isn’t alone. Many houses of worship all over the country face the question of how to keep safe, welcoming grounds while being compassionate to homeless neighbors sleeping on porches and in doorways. Here’s what we tried at Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church in Washington, DC. A couple of months ago, we started a dialogue about...

(LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM) communities and for people of sexually or gender dissident communities. The goals of Open House include generating interest in a celebration of queer life from the social to the political to the academic. Open House works to create a Wesleyan community that appreciates the variety and vivacity of gender, sex and sexuality.

The “Director of Civil and Human Rights” for the United Methodist Church, Bill Mefford, posted a picture to Twitter yesterday mocking the pro-life marchers. Mefford, who works for the church’s lobby arm, the General Board of Church and Society, ridiculed the marchers by posting a picture of himself standing before them with a sign saying “I march for sandwiches.” TWEET ON LINK Here’s a thought. A great proportion of the pro-life marchers are young people. They are volunteers, unpaid and untrained. Mefford, on the other hand, is a grown man, one whose actual job is to represent Christians in the...