Word: methodist
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...discussion are revolutionary -- not Why do men sin? but Why shouldn't they party? Traditional strictures against homosexuality, premarital sex (once called fornication), even adultery, are up for theological debate. The Presbyterians in conclave assembled gave thumbs down to the new morality; the Episcopalians gave thumbs sideways; the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will not be far behind in giving their thumb signals. Bees do it; do Wasps...
...mysteries. During his 33 years at TIME, Washington contributing editor Hugh Sidey has developed his own way to recognize the character of small towns. "If there is a nice, tidy Episcopal church, then you know there is a strong ruling elite," he says. "If there is a huge Methodist church, you know there is a large middle class. And if you go to the main square and the streets are deserted, you know there is a discount store somewhere in the area that has sucked the life out of the downtown...
...United Methodist Church (8.9 million members). A special panel will issue a report in August on whether the church should continue to declare that homosexual practice violates Christian teaching. An April straw vote indicated that most of the 24 panelists want a change...
...revolutionary Methodist proposal is likely to rely on the thinking of Victor Paul Furnish of Southern Methodist University and other liberal Bible scholars. According to their various reinterpretations, the Old Testament forbids homosexual behavior as part of a code, including laws and rituals, that Christians no longer observe. As for New Testament abjurations against the practice, particularly St. Paul's strong injunctions, revisionist scholars claim that the prohibitions were aimed only against pederasty and homosexual acts by persons who were naturally heterosexual. In any event, the argument runs, the apostle would have been more understanding if he knew as much...
Holsinger thinks Methodism could lose millions of members if an upheaval in church policy is ever approved. But Julian Rush of Denver, a pioneer gay Methodist minister, says, "I don't expect any change in my lifetime. The church won't lead the way on gays. It has to come from society into the church...