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Disparity Among the Methodist Church Leads to a Divide

Disparity Among the Methodist Church Leads to a Divide

The decision to divide the United Methodist Church has been of concern to its members and clergy for a few years now. The Church, whose 13 million members around the world, has come to an impasse on issues of same-sex marriage and gay clergy, finally decided on Friday that there will be a split among them. The new branch of the Church, Traditional Methodist” will not include gay clergy or allow gay marriage. The push for division came soon after a vote took place last year in St. Louis about gay marriage and clergy, and the majority of the delegates voted against it. Afterwards, the 16 church representatives decided the only thing they could do about the differences was split the church by fundamental values. Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey of Louisiana commented that it was “the best means to resolve our differences, allowing each part of the church to remain true to its theological understanding.” Others’ views, like that of Bishop Karen Oliveto of the Mountain Sky Conference, believe it is heartbreaking, “I’m actually really sad that we couldn’t build a bridge that could have provided a witness to the world of what unity amid diversity and disagreement could look like.”

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