For those of you who appreciate documentation, I've found the UMC's Judicial Council Decision #132 online so you can read it in its entirety. The two dissenting opinions -- by Jon R. Gray and the Reverend Susan T. Henry-Crow-- appear following the majority opinion.
I can tell I've been out of the loop too long, because I only just now discovered that Susan Henry-Crowe, whom I've known since I was a lay member of the UMC (prior to 1993), was elected president of the Judicial Council on May 1, 2008. Belated congratulations to Susan.
She replaced as president that old scalawag James Holsinger, who was nominated by President George W. Bush (but never appointed) as Surgeon General of the United States, at least in part due to his attitude toward homosexuality. He's a slick little fellow. He and his wife formed a church called Hope Springs Community Church, and when nominated he fell all over himself saying that congregation doesn't have a group dedicated to curing homosexuality. If you visit their website, though, you can read all about a Celebrate Recovery group called Men's Sexual Integrity. Okay, maybe it's to help men stop running around on their wives; but it so shouldn't there be an equivalent group for women? By the way, if you can translate the gobbledygook description of that group, please share with the rest of the class.
While I'm on the subject of surprises, I was delighted to read that James Holsinger was censured by the United Methodist Church at General Conference in 2008 for various sins of omission and commission regarding large sums of money. The vote was 826 for censuring him and 38 against. I'm in a predicament here. I don't know whether to gloat over how the mighty have fallen or to ask, "What the hell is wrong with you people? You censure this sleazebag over a few million dollars but you let him get away with denying our history, theology, and polity as president of Judicial Council when Decision 132 came down?"
Score: Mammon: 1; Jesus:0
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