May 1, 2004
The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - United Methodist law clearly teaches that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, the highest court in the denomination ruled Saturday.

The Judicial Council, which met during the denomination's General Conference, said violating that church law could be cause for removal from church office.

A delegate from Arkansas had asked the council to rule on the matter following a case in Washington in which a lesbian minister told her bishop she was in a committed relationship with a woman.

The Rev. Karen Dammann of Washington state had been charged with practices declared "incompatible with Christian teaching" under Methodist law.

A jury of 13 pastors from her region effectively ruled in March that church law did not, however, make it a chargeable offense for homosexual clergy to be sexually active. They found Dammann innocent.

Bishop Lawrence McCleskey, who heads the Columbia Area Annual Conference in South Carolina, said Saturday's decision will not affect the Dammann case.

He said current church law does not allow the General Conference or any other church body to appeal a decision made by another part of the church.

However, McCleskey said the decision clarifies that somebody in Dammann's position could be subject to church discipline in the future.

"I think the decision clarified the issue that was on everybody's mind," McCleskey said.

The exact breakdown of Saturday's judicial council decision was not released, but it included two dissenting opinions from members who believe that the language is unclear and is not law.

Conservatives hailed the decision by the nine-member court.

"Church law has been unchanging for three decades, but increasingly certain local or regional jurisdictions have been unwilling to enforce church law," said Mark Tooley, a spokesman for the United Methodist Action Program of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative advocacy group.

Still, Tooley said the question of homosexual clergy will remain unresolved until the General Conference or Judicial Council passes legislation to enforce church law.

Saturday's decision does not seek to define what is meant by "practice of homosexuality," only whether it can be used as the basis for excluding someone from ministry.

Traditionalists said the jury in the Damann case knowingly ignored church law out of sympathy for homosexual pastors. Conservatives came to the national meeting intent on finding a way to enforce the gay ordination ban.

The debate over homosexuality is expected to dominate the agenda of the conference, which is held every four years and runs through May 7.

No one believes that the 8.3 million-member denomination is about to break apart. Delegates have rejected proposals more accepting of sexually active gays by about 60 percent to 40 percent over the years. That voting trend is expected to continue among this year's 1,000 delegates.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/050104church_gays.html