United Methodists repeal longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy!

Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday, United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate, removing a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers.  As reported by The Associated Press.

Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference — the first such legislative gathering in five years. That overwhelming margin contrasts sharply with the decades of controversy around the issue. Past General Conferences of the United Methodist Church had steadily reinforced the ban and related penalties amid debate and protests, but many of the conservatives who had previously upheld the ban have left the denomination in recent years, and this General Conference has moved in a solidly progressive direction.

Applause broke out in parts of the convention hall after the vote. A group of observers from LGBTQ advocacy groups embraced, some in tears. “Thanks be to God,” said one.

The change doesn’t mandate or even explicitly affirm LGBTQ clergy, but it means the church no longer forbids them. It’s possible that the change will mainly apply to U.S. churches, since United Methodist bodies in other countries, such as in Africa, have the right to impose the rules for their own regions. The measure takes effect immediately upon the conclusion of General Conference, scheduled for tomorrow.

The consensus was so overwhelmingly that it was rolled into a “consent calendar,” a package of normally non-controversial measures that are bundled into a single vote to save time.

Also approved was a measure that forbids district superintendents — a regional administrator — from penalizing clergy for either performing a same-sex wedding or for refraining from performing one. It also forbids superintendents from forbidding or requiring a church from hosting a same-sex wedding.

That measure further removes scaffolding around the various LGBTQ bans that have been embedded various parts of official church law and policy. On Tuesday, delegates had begun taking steps to dismantle such policies.

Delegates are also expected to vote as soon as today on whether to replace their existing official Social Principles with a new document that no longer calls the “practice of homosexuality … incompatible with Christian teaching” and that now defines marriage as between “two people of faith” rather than between a man and a woman.

The changes are historic in a denomination that has debated LGBTQ issues for more than half a century at its General Conferences, which typically meet every four years. On Tuesday, delegates voted to remove mandatory penalties for conducting same-sex marriages and to remove their denomination’s bans on considering LGBTQ candidates for ministry and on funding for gay-friendly ministries.

About 100 LGBTQ people and allies gathered outside the Charlotte Convention Center after the vote — many with rainbow-colored scarves and umbrellas — to celebrate, pray and sing praise songs accompanied by a drum.

Bishop Karen Oliveto, the first openly lesbian bishop in the United Methodist Church, was among those celebrating.

“It seemed like such a simple vote, but it carried so much weight and power, as 50 years of restricting the Holy Spirit’s call on people’s lives has been lifted,” said Oliveto, of the Mountain Sky Episcopal Area, which includes Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. “People can live fully into their call without fear. The church we’ve loved has found a home for us.”

Angie Cox, an observer at the meeting from Ohio, said she has gone before her conference’s board of ordained ministry six times but was “told no just because of the prohibition on LGBTQ clergy.” She said Wednesday’s vote “means I might be able finally to live fully into my calling.”

Tracy Merrick, a delegate from Pittsburgh who has advocated for LGBTQ inclusion at several previous conferences, said with emotion that there were “many times when I thought we would never see this day.”

The vote, he said, enables the church to become “the denomination that many of us had envisioned for years.”

At the same time, the vote comes following the departure of one-quarter of the U.S. churches within the UMC. And it could also prompt departures of some international churches, particularly in Africa, where more conservative sexual values prevail and where same-sex activity is criminalized in some countries.

Last week, the conference endorsed a regionalization plan that essentially would allow the churches of the United States the same autonomy as other regions of the global church. That change — which still requires local ratification — could create a scenario where LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage are allowed in the United States but not in other regions.

More than 7,600 mostly conservative congregations in the United States disaffiliated between 2019 and 2023 reflecting dismay over the denomination not enforcing its bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination.

The conference last week also approved the departure of a small group of conservative churches in the former Soviet Union.

The church’s 1972 General Conference approved a statement in its non-binding Social Principles that homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching” — a phrase omitted in a revision to the Social Principles that is also headed for a conference vote this week.

The denomination had until recently been the third largest in the United States, present in almost every county. But its 5.4 million U.S. membership in 2022 is expected to drop once the 2023 departures are factored in.

The denomination also counts 4.6 million members in other countries, mainly in Africa, though earlier estimates have been higher.

Amen!

Tony

 

New York Times: Latest on Campus Protests

Click on to enlarge.

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times has a featured article this morning reviewing the state of campus protests and encampments. Police have been called into a number of colleges and universities and arrests have been made (see map above). Here are excerpts from the article.

Police officers at the University of California, Los Angeles, on Wednesday ordered pro-Palestinian protesters to leave their encampment or face arrest after a night of chaos at the campus that saw violent clashes with counterprotesters.

A stream of students left the encampment after the warning, but hundreds remained inside, putting on helmets, masks and goggles. Dozens of police officers were stationed nearby, and lines of police cars are parked around the encampment, which had been the scene of wild clashes overnight when the counterprotesters attempted to breach it.

The university’s chancellor, Gene Block, had described the counterprotesters as “instigators” who attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment. Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles called for a “full investigation” into the “absolutely detestable” violence at the U.C.L.A. campus.

Elsewhere, police officers in riot gear arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Fordham University’s Manhattan campus on Wednesday evening, the third university in New York City to face mass arrests in the past 24 hours as a surge of protests have put American universities on edge.

Police officers remained a jarring sight on the lawns and sidewalks of several American universities on Wednesday evening, including at Tulane in New Orleans, the University of Wisconsin, Madison and elsewhere.

Students at many other universities remained in protest encampments, indicating no intention of backing down, even as demonstrations spread to more campuses. The wave of student activism opposing the war in Gaza has posed a challenge for administrators who want to protect free speech rights while minimizing campus disruption.

More than 1,300 protesters have been taken into custody on U.S. campuses since  April 18, according to a tally by The New York Times.

Here’s what else to know:

  • Columbia’s campus remained closed to everyone but students who live there and employees who provide essential services, after officers in riot gear on Tuesday cleared a building that had been occupied for nearly a day. The school’s embattled president asked the police to remain on campus past graduation to prevent more conflict.
  • Pro-Palestinian demonstrators also were arrested at City College of New York in Harlem on Tuesday night after some of them tried to take over an administrative building.
  • At Tulane, 14 people were arrested, administrators said, as state and local forces helped campus police disperse protesters. At the University of Arizona, campus police sprayed chemicals as they broke up a demonstration. And at least 17 people were arrested when officers cleared an encampment at the University of Texas at Dallas.
  • There were signs of de-escalation on some campuses. In Rhode Island, students at Brown University dismantled their encampment on Tuesday. On the West Coast, the police ended the eight-day occupation of an administration building at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.

Tony

 

Fox News takes down docuseries on Hunter Biden after legal threat!

Hunter Biden.

Dear Commons Community,

Fox News says it has taken down a docuseries on its streaming service focusing on Hunter Biden, the president’s son, after he threatened to sue the outlet for using images he said were private.  As reported by The Hill.

“This program was produced in and has been available since 2022,” the network said in a statement Tuesday. “We are reviewing the concerns that have just been raised and — out of an abundance of caution in the interim — have taken it down.”

In a letter sent by Biden’s attorneys to Fox News this week and obtained by several news outlets, the younger Biden accused the network of conducting unlawful publication of “hacked” images and demanded the outlet retract and remove them from its platforms.

Earlier Tuesday, Fox pushed back on the assertions made in the letter.

“Hunter Biden’s lawyers have belatedly chosen to publicly attack Fox News’ constitutionally protected coverage regarding their client,” the network wrote.

“Mr. Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of investigations by both the Department of Justice and Congress, has been indicted by two different US Attorney’s Offices in California and Delaware, and has admitted to multiple incidents of wrongdoing,” the outlet continued. “Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered these highly publicized events as well as the subsequent indictment of an FBI informant who was the source of certain claims made about Mr. Biden.”

Biden’s attorneys are arguing the docuseries was produced for its streaming service “just for entertainment value,” lacked news value and used explicit images the president’s son to paint him in a negative light.

Republicans and leading pundits on Fox and elsewhere in conservative media have aggressively attacked Biden for years over his foreign business deals, history of drug use and tax issues.

Fox News has blinked!

Tony

 

New York Police Clear Out Protesters at Columbia University!

Courtesy of The Huffington Post.

Dear Commons Community,

The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion, with police carrying riot shields bursting into a building that protesters took over the previous night and making dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between dueling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles.

New York City officers entered Columbia’s campus late Tuesday after the university requested help, according to a statement released by a spokesperson. A tent encampment on the school’s grounds was cleared, along with Hamilton Hall where a stream of officers used a ladder to climb through a second-floor window.

Protesters calling on the Ivy League university to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza seized the hall about 20 hours earlier.

“After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the school said. “The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing. We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”

Police spokesman Carlos Nieves said he had no immediate reports of any injuries. The arrests occurred after protesters shrugged off an earlier ultimatum to abandon the encampment Monday or be suspended and unfolded as other universities stepped up efforts to end demonstrations that were inspired by Columbia.

Thank God that no one was hurt. 

It will also be interesting to see if any of the arrested individuals have little or no connection to Columbia.

Tony