Clintons' Former United Methodist Church Skirts Discipline with Same-Sex 'Celebrations'

by Staff
February 21, 2008

WASHINGTON, (christiansunite.com) -- The prominent United Methodist church formerly attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton has announced that it will begin to host services that recognize same-sex unions. According to Foundry United Methodist Church of Washington, D.C., homosexual couples can have their associations recognized and honored at the church beginning this month.

The 7.9 million-member United Methodist Church officially prohibits any ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions and involve United Methodist pastors or church buildings. United Methodism affirms God's love and civil rights for all people, while also affirming marriage as the lifelong union of man and woman.

IRD Director of UMAction Mark Tooley commented:

"The United Methodist Discipline clearly prohibits celebrating homosexual unions. By providing worship leadership and a church building, Foundry United Methodist Church is doing everything short of an exchange of vows. This is clearly a violation of the spirit of the Discipline.

"It is absurd to claim that a United Methodist church can 'recognize' a same-sex union without celebrating it. Are we to believe that the United Methodist pastor will robotically acknowledge such unions without any endorsement of them, all while surrounded by the trappings of a traditional wedding service?

"UMAction calls upon Baltimore-Washington Conference Bishop John Schol to uphold both the letter and spirit of the United Methodist Discipline by preventing these same-sex rites."

The Institute on Religion and Democracy, founded in 1981, is an ecumenical alliance of U.S. Christians working to reform their churches' social witness, in accord with biblical and historic Christian teachings, thereby contributing to the renewal of democratic society at home and abroad.