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WASHINGTON -- "Impeach President Bush!" urged Jim Winkler, head of the Capitol Hill-based United Methodist Board of Church and Society. Winkler was speaking earlier this spring here in town to an "Ecumenical Advocacy Days" rally for liberal religious activists, organized by the National Council of Churches, mainline denominations, several left-wing Catholic orders, and Jim Wallis's Sojourners group.

The United Methodist Church of Minnesota, which held its annual conference in St. Cloud last week, has a knack for detecting and embracing the "social justice" cause du jour. When Minnesota Methodist leaders congregate, buzzwords like "celebrating diversity" are generally front and center. "I believe when you embrace diversity," ran a recent United Methodist advertisement, "you embrace God." In the past, Methodist leaders have often focused on racism and sexism. This year, however, gay issues jumped to center stage. The Minnesota Annual Conference outdid itself, passing nine petitions on various aspects of the topic. The conference went on record as...

A GROUP of trainee Methodist ministers has been barred from Britain by the Home Office under laws passed 12 years ago to prevent unqualified religious leaders entering the country. Every year, the Methodist Church in the US sends 14 probationer ministers to this country for a year, and they have never been turned away before. But for the first time this year, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate has ruled that the 14 trainees fall foul of legislation passed in 1994 under which ministers who are not ordained cannot get a work visa.

May 23, 2006)--The United Methodist Church's chief social-issues spokesman, the Rev. Jim Winkler, says Congress should impeach President Bush "to advance the kingdom of God." Winkler proposed that during the annual "Ecumenical Advocacy Days," attended by delegates from his church and other denominations, most of them members of the National Council of Churches. In his view, "there was nothing Christian" in President Bush's response to the 9/11 attacks. The Methodist church's official Social Principles declare, "War is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ," and reject war "as an instrument of national foreign policy." The Methodists are America's third-largest...

The Methodists' Mullah-Protection Plan By Mark D. Tooley FrontPageMagazine.com | May 11, 2006 The Religious Left has continuously opposed nearly all U.S. military action over the last 40 years, no matter the circumstances. Now it is poised to oppose any decisive U.S.-led action against Iran’s nuclear weapons program. This opening salvo came from the chief lobbyist for President Bush’s own denomination. "I don't know about you, but I am astonished at the reports of a possible United States attack on Iran," declared Jim Winkler, general secretary of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, at a speech in Washington,...

O Great Spirit, whose breath gives life to the world, And whose voice is heard in the soft breeze: We need your strength and wisdom. Cause us to walk in beauty. Give us eyes ever to behold the red and purple sunset. Make us wise so that we may understand what you have taught us. Help us learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Make us always ready to come to you with clean hands and steady eyes, So when life fades, like the fading sunset, our spirits may come to you without shame. Amen. ((United...

Tampa, not Richmond, to host 2012 General Conference United Methodists from all over the world will gather in Tampa, Fla., in 2012. The Tampa Convention Center will host the United Methodist Church’s legislative assembly in 2012. The United Methodist Commission on the General Conference changed the venue from Richmond, Va., because the city is home to a minor league baseball team that uses a Native American name. The denomination discourages church meetings in such cities on the grounds that sports mascots and logos are demeaning to Native Americans. A Web-only photo courtesy of the Tampa Convention Center. NASHVILLE, Tenn....

The United Methodist General Conference had eliminated Atlanta before choosing Richmond for its 2012 General Conference. Now, it has eliminated Richmond as host for its 1,000 delegates and 4,000 other attendees, for the same reason: the names of the Braves' baseball teams. The denomination's Commission on the General Conference is moving the convention to Tampa because of its policy, begun in 2004, of not meeting in cities home to professional sports teams with American Indian names.

The head of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has endorsed a call for McDonalds to improve working conditions and raise the pay of its tomato pickers. In a letter released on Wednesday, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the two-million-member denomination, challenged the fast food chain giant to “put an end to human rights violations” by bringing an “adequate solution to the grievous conditions and sub-poverty wages of farmworkers.” "Farmworkers are explicitly excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, which denies them the right to organize, the right to negotiate with their employers, and the right to appeal grievances to...

HOUSTON - A lesbian Methodist minister should retain her ordained status because defrocking her would amount to discrimination, and would fly in the face of the inclusiveness that the church preaches, representatives of a Pennsylvania minister argued Thursday before the church's Judicial Council. The nine-member council - seven of whom attended a hearing at First United Methodist Church in Houston - began deliberating the case of Irene "Beth" Stroud with plans to rule on Monday. The Judicial Council is the highest court within the United Methodist Church, the nation's third-largest denomination. Stroud, 35, was found by a church panel in...

According to the Wesley Blog, Planned Parenthood has hired a chaplain, Dr. Ignacio Castuera. This chaplain, though, doesn’t serve the spiritual needs of people. Instead, he serves the public relations needs of Planned Parenthood (PP). Here’s the description of his responsibilities, from a PP press release: As chaplain, Dr. Castuera will act as a public spokesperson to promote Planned Parenthood's mission and vision. He will play a pivotal role in communicating the theological justification for choice, sexuality, and contraception to the Planned Parenthood community and the general public. He will also be available to provide advice to volunteer and staff...

Having read an account of what happened at “Hearts on Fire,” do you believe that United Methodist Lake Junaluska Conference Center was correct in renting itself to the pro-homosexuality conference? Go to the website and click to participate in the poll.

By DAVE MASTERS Sun Online IF you recognise any of these men contact our newsdesk immediately on 0207 782 4104 or email talkback@the-sun.co.uk POLICE today released CCTV pictures of the four men they are hunting over yesterday's London terror attacks. The first image showed a young man in a dark top with 'New York' written on it apparently fleeing after leaving a bomb at The Oval. The top was later found in Cowley Road in Brixton. The second image showed a man with a moustache wearing a grey t-shirt with a palm tree on it and a white cap. The...

(I got this received this forwarded e-mail, orginally it came my way from former Illinois state rep, Cal Skinner, R-Crystal Lake. Cal writes now for the online conservative publication, Illinois Leader.) FROM: Reverend Kent L. Svendsen, Ordained Elder, United Methodist Church / Northern Illinois Conference Dear Women's Division General Board of Global Ministries United Methodist Church I understand that you about to start a campaign relating to among other things human rights protections and the detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I can speak with some authority on the subject since I served as the chaplain to the Joint Detention...

Here’s a story that will throw you for a loop: a "chaplain” at the U.S. Air Force Academy is complaining that the school’s administration has a "systemic and pervasive” problem of promoting religious religious values with a Christian bent. The chaplain, Capt. Melinda Morton, a "Lutheran minister” spoke out publicly on Tuesday as an Air Force task force arrived at the academy to investigate charges that officers and staff members pushed their religious beliefs on cadets. And she claimed that a tolerance program developed at the academy, called Respecting the Spiritual Values of all People (R.S.V.P.), was watered down after...

The Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church http://www.vaumc.org will make several appeals to state lawmakers. Do you know what they are? Are they consistent with conservative, Christian values? And do Methodists in Virginia have any idea what the church's General Board of Church and Society is doing with your offering. You may be surprised to find out, but Yassir Arafat and anti-American hate groups are well aware of Methodist benevolence. Staff of the Methodist GBCS: readThe Methodist GBCS and the U.N.: readMore on the Methodist GBCS and the U.N.: readNonsense by Methodist Elite on the U.N. & Iraq: readArafat...

Methodists tighten stance on homosexuals By Julia Duin and Judith Person THE WASHINGTON TIMES United Methodists' official stance against homosexuality was bolstered by two separate decisions at their quadrennial meeting in Pittsburgh. In one vote, church liberals failed yesterday by a 527-423 vote among the delegates to pass a measure that would have acknowledged differing opinions among church members on homosexuality. In the other, the church's Judicial Council ruled on a 6-3 vote that a "self-avowed practicing homosexual" henceforth cannot be employed within the church nor be appointed to any position by a bishop. Both votes pleased church conservatives, while...

Weblog: What John Edwards BelievesJohn Kerry's Methodist running mate oversees his church's urban ministries, but can he win evangelicals' votes?Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 07/06/2004 1:00 p.m. Catholic Kerry picks Methodist Edwards as running mate The religion story in covering the Democratic presidential campaign undoubtedly will continue to focus on John Kerry's Catholicism, and Catholic leaders' responses to it. In fact, that story will explode this week as St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, who has already promised to deny Communion to Kerry and other prochoice politicians, issues a pastoral letter reiterating and detailing his remarks that "knowingly voting for...

A conservative critic says for those willing to take an objective look, it is easy to see that honesty is not considered a virtue in the homosexual community. Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute says at the recent Methodist Student Forum 2004 gathering in Conway, Arkansas, pro-homosexual issues were presented and discussed, followed by a communion service, in which the bread that was used was rainbow colored. Hendrix College Chaplain Wayne Clark, who brought the bread, claimed it was not meant to promote the homosexual rainbow theme. However, Knight has his doubts. He says, "To say that the...

Methodist Church chooses conservative course on homosexuality By Cara Eastwood rep4@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - The United Methodist Church is going to be fine following the two-week General Council that concluded Friday in Pittsburgh, a local church official says. The leader of Cheyenne's Grace United Methodist Church, the Rev. Jon Laughlin, said the Methodist church is "one of the most democratic structures - perhaps on Earth." It is this democratic process he and other local pastors say will save the church from the fate that befell the Episcopal Church last year when an openly-gay bishop was confirmed...