Schools association responds to Judicial Council decision
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The Rev. Ed Johnson |
March 14, 2006
By Vicki Brown*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — A United Methodist association of schools has
issued a resolution expressing “deep concern for the pain and
alienation” of those affected by the Judicial Council decision
reinstating a pastor who denied church membership to an openly gay man.
The resolution, issued by the National Association of Schools and
Colleges of the United Methodist Church, was affirmed unanimously by the
United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry’s Division of
Higher Education at the agency’s spring board meeting March 11.
The resolution was in response to Judicial Council Decision 1032, which
upheld the Rev. Ed Johnson’s denial of church membership to an openly
gay man at South Hill (Va.) United Methodist Church. It also expressed
concern for the pain caused by “the ongoing conflicted discussion on
Decision 1027 regarding the clergy status of persons living in same-sex
relationships.” That decision upheld the removal of ministerial
credentials from Beth Stroud of Pennsylvania, who is in a lesbian
relationship.
“As United Methodist-related college and university leaders, we embrace
the church’s affirmation: ‘Open hearts, Open minds, Open doors.’ We
affirm the core humanistic and religious value that all persons are of
sacred worth and equal standing,” the resolution states.
“We welcome students to our campuses regardless of their race or
ethnicity, their creed, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation.
... We promote a vision of life in which people are judged by the
content of their character and not their skin color, their gender, their
sexual orientation, or any of the other official barriers used to
devalue some of God’s children,” the statement reads.
The association’s 123 member institutions include college preparatory
schools, two-year colleges, four-year colleges and universities, one
professional school and 13 United Methodist schools of theology. The
organization seeks to strengthen the relationship between the schools
and the denomination.
“This is an instance in which the institutions of higher education are
taking their relationship to the church seriously by speaking to the
church and the wider public,” said the Rev. Jerome King Del Pino, top
executive of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and
Ministry. “With the affirmation of the presidents’ action by this
division on behalf of (the board), the much-needed dialogue of the
church about these critical issues is deepened and momentum is
established for collaboration that will strengthen the relationship
between the United Methodist Church and its institutions of higher
learning.”
The Judicial Council is the United Methodist Church’s supreme court. The denomination’s Book of Discipline
holds that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian
teaching but that homosexuals are people of sacred worth.
Serious discussions
David Beckley, president of Rust College in Holly Springs, Miss., and of
the association, said the resolution was approved at the organization’s
Feb. 5-6 meeting in Washington. It was then sent to all members of the
organization for comments. Beckley said he received some comments that
were incorporated, but no opposition.
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David Beckley |
A number of colleges — including Baldwin-Wallace in Berea, Ohio, which
presented the resolution to the association — have had serious
discussions about what it means to be a United Methodist-related
institution, Beckley said. The presidents saw discrimination as running
counter to what it means to be a church-related institution, he said.
The affirmation of the resolution by the division “affirms the principle of the total worth of all God’s people,” Beckley said.
“We affirm the church in its decades-long struggle to balance an
unqualified commitment to sacred worth, sacred identity and sacred
practice,” the resolution states. “The United Methodist Church has
consistently chosen to walk the path of constructive tension among these
commitments. We encourage the church to resolve this issue in a manner
that upholds the sacred worth of all human beings.”
In the resolution, association calls “upon the United Methodist Church
to continue expressing its own stated commitment to inclusiveness and
its opposition to discrimination in any form that would devalue a
person’s sacred worth; and we as presidents of the United
Methodist-related colleges and universities commit ourselves to foster
an education environment in which honest differences can be explored in
an open, objective and safe environment.”
Exploring differences
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The Rev. Ken Bedell |
The Rev. Ken Bedell, a staff member of the Division of Higher Education,
said the resolution demonstrates one of the contributions that the
church-related colleges and universities have to make to the United
Methodist Church. “This statement represents an attempt by the
presidents of United Methodist-related schools and colleges to connect
to the United Methodist Church by offering to be ‘safe’ environments to
explore differences with openness and objectivity.”
He called the resolution significant, adding that “this is the first
time in recent history that NASCUMC has spoken out on issues being
discussed in the church.
In other action, the division voted to approve another association
resolution to develop a joint strategy aimed at increasing the number of
United Methodist students at member institutions by 10 percent by 2012.
*Brown is an associate editor and writer in the Office of
Interpretation, United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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