Top Stories of 2004: UMC Acquits Lesbian Pastor; Divisive Result Garners Diverse Reaction

by Fred Jackson and Jenni Parker
December 23, 2004

(AgapePress) - Conservative Methodists are using terms like "heartbroken" and "anarchy" to describe the shocking results of a church trial in Washington State over the weekend, in which a United Methodist pastor who openly admits that she is a practicing lesbian was found not guilty of violating church teachings.

For years Pastor Karen Dammann has made no secret of the fact that she is a practicing lesbian. Traditionalists contend that this puts her in direct conflict with stated United Methodist Church standards prohibiting "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from ministry and declare homosexuality to be "incompatible with Christian teaching."

But when the jury of 13 Methodist pastors rendered its decision on Saturday, it had voted Dammann not guilty, with eleven jurors voting to find the pastor not guilty and two undecided. In a statement, the jury said the church "did not present clear and convincing evidence to sustain the charge."

Furthermore, even the pastor who served as the prosecutor in the case, James Finkbeiner, and the bishop who filed the initial complaint against Dammann said they were pleased with the verdict. Associated Press quotes Finkbeiner as saying that although the jury overstepped the bounds of church law, he does not "feel bad about that," going on to say that "I'm glad I lost."

The jury's decision is drawing mixed reactions across the denomination. Not surprisingly, in a church whose denominational social principles support homosexual rights -- and with Dammann's trial taking place in the very liberal Pacific Northwest Conference -- the homosexual pastor had numerous supporters. And according to Associated Press reports, the Sunday after the verdict was announced, her acquittal was celebrated by many at the United Methodist church where she used to preach in Ellensburg, Washington.

At the same time, Patricia Miller, head of the UMC's conservative Confessing Movement, told AP she is heartbroken that some Methodists have "decided to go the way of the world, as opposed to being faithful to and abiding by church law." And Dr. Maxie Dunnam, president of Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, calls the acquittal a sign of anarchy in the church and predicts that it could well result in denominational schism.

Church Law on Trial
In a New York Times article, Dunnam was quoted as saying he was very surprised and disappointed by the verdict, and wondering, "How can there be a not guilty verdict when what she's done is public and she has confessed it?" Dammann had disclosed to her regional bishop in a 2001 letter that she was living in a "partnered, convenanted, homosexual relationship." She is also raising a five-year-old boy with her live-in partner, who gave birth to the child.

The Times noted that while homosexual ministers are not uncommon in the United Methodist Church, self-disclosure by homosexual clergy is uncommon. Dammann's supervising bishop testified that the pastor appeared to be "trying to test" church law by wording her letter as she had done.

However, in the trial an expert on church law argued that both the Bible and the denomination's Book of Discipline contain unclear and contradictory passages about homosexual relationships, and that the discipline fails to articulate clearly a prohibition against homosexuality. The majority of the jurors were convinced by this argument; and despite the fact that the court was confronted with passages referring to homosexuality as incompatible with Christian teaching, one juror said, "we did not find that any of them constitute a declaration."

Dr. Dunnam feels the verdict in Dammann's case, which cannot be appealed, will have an inevitably divisive effect on the United Methodist Church. "We can't continue to live with a whole segment of the church that is deliberately disobeying the church's law," he says.

The extent of the already existing division within the United Methodist Church over issues of homosexuality will doubtless be exposed next month. The denomination's stance on homosexuality is on the agenda of the next UMC General Conference, slated to begin April 27 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

According to the New York Times article, prior to Dammann's trial, the only other openly homosexual Methodist minister to be tried by the church was Rose Mary Denham, who was found guilty and defrocked in 1987. However, at least two ministers have been tried in recent years for solemnizing homosexual unions.