NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The United Methodist Judicial Council has released the docket for its April 23-26 meeting in Little Rock, Ark. In the five-item docket, the council will review bishops’ decisions of law on issues including a marriage equality resolution and a lesbian clergy candidate, along with a request for a “declaratory decision” about providing same-gender spouse benefits from the denomination’s finance agency.
The Simple Plan would relieve The United Methodist Church of the burdens of discrimination and the responsibility of enforcement by punishment, writes a Drew University Theological School professor.
Citing the church stance on homosexuality as a mostly U.S. concern, the Rev. Edgar De Jesus writes that Filipino United Methodists are more focused on how to make the Gospel relevant.
