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United Methodists declared Monday a "banner day" as they approved a full communion agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The new relationship between the two major Protestant denominations is not a merger but a recognition of each other's ministry and mission. Full communion recognizes that each church has "the one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith" expressed in the Scriptures and confessed in historic creeds and the core teachings of each denomination. The two churches also recognize the authenticity of each other's baptism and eucharist and the full interchangeability of all ordained ministers. "It's not merger," said Bishop Melvin...

Methodists are being asked to single out Israel as sufficiently wicked to join the Sudan as a target of economic sanctions. While Barak Obama and John McCain have had to answer for the statements of their church leaders, neither Hillary Clinton nor George Bush have had to do the same, despite the fact that their church - the Methodists - are gathering in Fort Worth to take action that has real, rather than merely rhetorical, significance. During this week's General Conference, the United Methodist Church will be reviewing a number of resolutions urging divestment from companies doing business with Israel...

The Jewish State of Israel may not be perfect, it is however a flowering garden of civility, democracy and human rights in a desert filled with Arab-Muslim oppressive dictatorships, who deny their people basic human and religious rights and fundamental freedoms to its minorities-such as freedom of speech, press, and assembly. Given Israel's circumstances - being surrounded by hostile Arab states (and Arab-Palestinians) who seek its destruction through war and endless cycles of terrorism, Israel's record of maintaining its democracy and working to insure human rights and freedoms for all is remarkable. For the United Methodist Church (UMC) and other...

The United Methodist Church is poised to become the next U.S. church to consider divestment from a company or companies operating in Israel, a strategy that has embroiled the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other denominations in controversy. At the church's quadrennial General Conference in April in Fort Worth, the Methodists, with more than 8 million U.S. members, will debate whether to pull church holdings in Caterpillar, which provides the Israel Defense Forces with bulldozers. The proposal from the Methodists' General Board of Church and Society comes as the church's women's division offers a 224-page study guide on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...

Methodist renewal advocate Mark Tooley says United Methodist Church officials are urging church agencies and members to divest their holdings in Caterpillar Incorporated, for doing business with Israel. Tooley, who directs the United Methodist Committee at the Institute on Religion and Democracy, says the UMC has about $15 million of Caterpillar stock in its pension fund. But he says the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society has unveiled a proposal to divest from Caterpillar ahead of the church's governing General Conference in April. Several United Methodist regional conferences have endorsed anti-Israel divestment, according to Tooley. "It's another example...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life organization for members of the Methodist Church says it hopes the Protestant Christian denomination will reform its long-standing pro-abortion views. The group hopes Methodists will be open to the message of Bishop William Willimon of Birmingham, who will be delivering a pro-life speech on Tuesday before the March for Life. LifeWatch, the unofficial United Methodist pro-life caucus, says Bishop Willimon will address the group in the chapel of the United Methodist Building, headquarters of the pro-abortion United Methodist Board of Church and Society. LifeWatch will urge the governing United Methodist General Conference this spring...

HOUSTON — An influential Houston minister who has long been a spiritual adviser to President George W. Bush says he will endorse Barack Obama's bid for the presidency. The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, said Saturday that he's backing the Illinois senator because of Obama's "character, confidence and courage." Obama, a Democrat, is electable and "would do a wonderful job to bring people together to pursue a common vision we all have," said Caldwell, who said his support is personal and not connected to his role as pastor of the 14,000-member church. However, Caldwell...

Standing inside the Mississippi State Capitol Rotunda, a cluster of conservative Christian leaders voiced their support for Republican candidate Fred Thompson, praising his “fortitude” of character. “[Former] Senator Thompson’s pursuit of the presidency is not ego-driven … and [he] does not attempt to re-invent himself or change his language depending on his audience,” Reverend Phillip Knight said, adding, “It appears to me, the only candidate that can act, isn’t.” Knight and Dr. Benny Tate, founders of the Wesleyan Center for Strategic Studies, promise the endorsements of 100 conservative Methodist pastors in the coming days. … “We don’t need a leader...

Republican presidential candidate, Fred Thompson made his second stop through the magnolia state in less than a month Friday. He picked up an endorsement for a conservative Methodist group, the Wesleyan Center for Strategic Studies. Fred Thompson says he's the same person whether he's in the deep south or out west. His "tell it like it is" demeanor showed itself at the most recent GOP debate. But it's that same resolve the Wesleyan Center founders say is the reason they chose to endorse him. "He is just not Fred '08, he is Fred everyday," said Reverend Phillip Knight, Wesleyan Center...

WASHINGTON, October 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The official lobbying office of the 7.9 million-member United Methodist Church has co-signed a letter with several radical organizations in support of The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The legislation, supported by the United Methodist General Board on Church and Society (GBCS), places those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender into a special protected status. Other co-signers of the letter include the National Center for Transgender Equality, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Human Rights Campaign. The United Methodist Church officially does not ordain into the ministry practicing homosexuals or...

Cannibal tribe apologises for eating Methodists By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 3:29pm BST 16/08/2007 A tribe in Papua New Guinea has apologised for killing and eating four 19th century missionaries under the command of a doughty British clergyman. Sorcery and witchcraft are still common in some Papuan tribes The four Fijian missionaries were on a proselytising mission on the island of New Britain when they were massacred by Tolai tribesmen in 1878. They were murdered on the orders of a local warrior chief, Taleli, and were then cooked and eaten. The Fijians - a minister and three teachers...

A Methodist ministry at the Jersey Shore has sued the state, accusing the Attorney General's Office of trying to compel the group to allow gay civil union ceremonies in its boardwalk pavilion. The federal lawsuit, filed on Saturday by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, is the latest salvo in a case that's drawing statewide attention from gay rights advocates and religious conservatives. "Religious groups have the right to make their own decisions without government interference," Brian W. Raum, lawyer for the association, said in a statement Monday. "The government can't force a private Christian organization to use its property...

An official with the Institute on Religion and Democracy believes the recent approval of an active homosexual for membership at a Virginia United Methodist church will force the denomination to take a closer look at its guidelines for church membership. Minister Ed Johnson, who was pastor of South Hill United Methodist Church, was approached two years ago by a homosexual man who wanted to join the congregation. Johnson declined to grant immediate church membership to the man, who was living with his partner. The presiding bishop, Charlene Kammerer, removed Johnson from his pulpit and eventually moved him to another congregation....

The George W. Bush Library: Asset or Albatross for SMU? By William K. McElvaney and Susanne Johnson For some time Southern Methodist University has pursued the George W. Bush Presidential Library. We assume this quest will not likely change. Nor do we doubt that the best interests of the university are honored in the minds of SMU’s administration. Indeed, we have great respect for SMU’s present leadership and its many remarkable achievements. In this instance, however, we seek to love the university in a different way by offering an alternative viewpoint and by raising questions we regard as healthy for...

The George W. Bush Library: Asset or Albatross for SMU? By William K. McElvaney and Susanne Johnson For some time Southern Methodist University has pursued the George W. Bush Presidential Library. We assume this quest will not likely change. Nor do we doubt that the best interests of the university are honored in the minds of SMU’s administration. Indeed, we have great respect for SMU’s present leadership and its many remarkable achievements. In this instance, however, we seek to love the university in a different way by offering an alternative viewpoint and by raising questions we regard as healthy...

A group of Methodist ministers has begun a national petition drive asking Southern Methodist University to remove itself from negotiations to get the George W. Bush presidential library. "As United Methodists, we believe that the linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate," reads the petition, which is posted online at ProtectSMU.org. "Because SMU is owned by the United Methodist Church, the imposition of a George W. Bush library, museum and think tank at SMU will irreparably connect the denomination with this presidency,” said Rev. Andrew J. Weaver, a petition organizer in Brooklyn, N.Y....

WASHINGTON -- "Impeach President Bush!" urged Jim Winkler, head of the Capitol Hill-based United Methodist Board of Church and Society. Winkler was speaking earlier this spring here in town to an "Ecumenical Advocacy Days" rally for liberal religious activists, organized by the National Council of Churches, mainline denominations, several left-wing Catholic orders, and Jim Wallis's Sojourners group.

The United Methodist Church of Minnesota, which held its annual conference in St. Cloud last week, has a knack for detecting and embracing the "social justice" cause du jour. When Minnesota Methodist leaders congregate, buzzwords like "celebrating diversity" are generally front and center. "I believe when you embrace diversity," ran a recent United Methodist advertisement, "you embrace God." In the past, Methodist leaders have often focused on racism and sexism. This year, however, gay issues jumped to center stage. The Minnesota Annual Conference outdid itself, passing nine petitions on various aspects of the topic. The conference went on record as...

A GROUP of trainee Methodist ministers has been barred from Britain by the Home Office under laws passed 12 years ago to prevent unqualified religious leaders entering the country. Every year, the Methodist Church in the US sends 14 probationer ministers to this country for a year, and they have never been turned away before. But for the first time this year, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate has ruled that the 14 trainees fall foul of legislation passed in 1994 under which ministers who are not ordained cannot get a work visa.

May 23, 2006)--The United Methodist Church's chief social-issues spokesman, the Rev. Jim Winkler, says Congress should impeach President Bush "to advance the kingdom of God." Winkler proposed that during the annual "Ecumenical Advocacy Days," attended by delegates from his church and other denominations, most of them members of the National Council of Churches. In his view, "there was nothing Christian" in President Bush's response to the 9/11 attacks. The Methodist church's official Social Principles declare, "War is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ," and reject war "as an instrument of national foreign policy." The Methodists are America's third-largest...