Leftist Church Official Does Not Speak for UMC, Renewal Advocate Says
by Jim Brown
June 1, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Protestant renewal group is denouncing a United Methodist Church (UMC) official over his call for the impeachment of President George W. Bush. Jim Winkler, head of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, recently addressed the Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace and Justice, telling the gathering of liberal religious activists in Washington that President Bush should be impeached for mounting "an illegal war of aggression" against Iraq that was "sold on lies."
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are both members of the UMC. Winker went on to fault the president and his administration for not being aggressive enough in supporting global warming theory and other liberal causes. The United Methodist official also referred to the war on terror as "a war of terror" and called American intelligence agencies "the secret police."
According to Mark Tooley, director of the United Methodist Committee at the Institute of Religion and Democracy (IRD), Winkler considers impeaching Bush to be a religious imperative. However, the church renewal advocate does not believe Winkler truly speaks for most of his denomination's members with regard to church or political matters.
"Those on the religious left who deny or at least diminish some of the key, core doctrines of Christianity tend to view politics instead of those core doctrines of Christianity as more essential," Tooley asserts. "So it's not surprising," he says, "that Winkler would call a particular political initiative like impeaching the President part of advancing his notion of the kingdom of God."
But despite Bush's low approval ratings, Tooley believes most of the UMC's eight million members would find the UM Board of Church and Society leader's call for the impeachment of the President out of line. In fact, the Protestant renewal advocate thinks many church members would have problems with the way the denomination's resources are being used by church officials in their efforts to advance several leftist political causes.
The IRD's United Methodist Committee spokesman says he is confident the vast majority of Methodists would take issue with "the fact that we have a fulltime lobby office in Washington, DC, on Capitol Hill that pushes for a whole range of liberal issues." He is also confident, he says, "that the vast majority of Methodists -- even many of those who are themselves liberal -- would find that inappropriate for the church."
Winkler would make a good spokesman for a left-wing political action organization like MoveOn.org, Tooley asserts. However, he says the liberal UMC official definitely "does not represent the mainstream opinion in the denomination for which he purports to speak."
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
