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Pastors from mainline denominations and other religious leaders knelt on the floor of the Capitol Rotunda Thursday, praying and singing until police arrested them for the protest. Their message to a Congress attempting to raise the debt ceiling? Raise taxes instead of cutting programs. “Today, we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to say to Congress, ‘Raise revenue, protect the vulnerable and those living in poverty,” said the Rev. Michael Livingston, the former president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ (USA), in a statement. Joining him were representatives from the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist...

Jimmy Creech spent his career as an ordained United Methodist pastor until the church took his credentials away as punishment for conducting same sex commitment ceremonies in Omaha and Chapel Hill. He was not convicted at a trial in Nebraska in 1998, but he lost his church assignment and the stage was set for a second trial in 1999 after he officiated a ceremony at United Church of Chapel Hill. Since then he has been a leader of LGBT justice issues, retired to Raleigh and travels the country speaking. He also has written an account of the upheaval, "Adam's Gift:...

The newsletter of the United Methodists' General Board of Church and Society is out today with, among other things, a column protesting the practice of shackling women prisoners in childbirth. Heather Rice, a blogger with the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good and Associate Director of Policy for the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, writes: Forty states in America do not have a prohibition against shackling women prisoners during childbirth. This is a shameful practice that strips away the dignity from the sacred moment of welcoming a new life into the world and increases danger to the health and...

A United Methodist congregation should conduct same-sex marriages despite the possibility of negative consequences, according to Bishop Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. "I'm here to tell you that when you speak about God's limitless, boundless and unimaginable love, you will get into trouble: I promise you, I know this," Robinson said to the congregation. Robinson both gave a sermon at the invitation of Foundry's Senior Pastor, Dean Snyder, as well as answered questions from church members during an informal session following the Sunday morning worship services. Robinson's sermon was part of a month-long "outstanding preacher" series...

For the second time in less than a year, the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), an official agency of the denomination, has published an article arguing that sexual relationships outside the covenant of marriage are not necessarily improper. “An Ordained Single Woman and the Discipline,” published June 7 as part of the “Sex and the Church” series in GBCS’ weekly Faith in Action online newsletter, contends that sexual relationships should not be off-limits for unmarried UM clergy. Last August, the controversial series featured an article by Unitarian “sexologist” Debra Haffner who wrote that one can have...

United Methodist Church Bashes Ben Nelson on Abortion Funding Refusal Washington, DC -- The United Methodist Church has never made a secret of its support for abortion as it regularly participates in a radical national pro-abortion religious group. With one of its members, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, holding up the health care bill over abortion funding, the church is on the attack. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5792.html

Offering a new perspective on the reality of aging denominations, The United Methodist Church studied the death rates of Methodists and the general American population and found that the church is dying faster. The death rates for members of the nearly 8 million-member denomination are about a third higher than the national average, according to the "Pockets of 'Youthfulness' in an Aging Denomination" report. In 2005, the United Methodist death rate was 134 percent of the U.S. death rate among those 15 years and older. Among UMC's 62 annual conferences, or regional bodies, in the United States, 34 of them...

Offering a new perspective on the reality of aging denominations, The United Methodist Church studied the death rates of Methodists and the general American population and found that the church is dying faster. The death rates for members of the nearly 8 million-member denomination are about a third higher than the national average, according to the "Pockets of 'Youthfulness' in an Aging Denomination" report. In 2005, the United Methodist death rate was 134 percent of the U.S. death rate among those 15 years and older. Among UMC's 62 annual conferences, or regional bodies, in the United States, 34 of them...

"What if church wasn't just a building, but thousands of doors?" asks a new website launched by the United Methodist Church. "Each of them opening up to a different concept or experience of church. . . . Would you come?" After watching its membership drop nearly 25 percent in recent decades, the United Methodist Church, which is still the nation's largest mainline Protestant denomination, thinks it knows the answer. So it's pouring $20 million into a new marketing campaign, including the website, television advertisements, even street teams in some cities, to rebrand the church from stale destination to "24-7 experience."...

The United Methodist Church's top court recently ruled that clergy, both active and retired, cannot perform same-sex marriages or civil unions. Performing such services is "a chargeable offense," Bishop Beverly J. Shamana ruled last Friday. UMC's Judicial Council affirmed her decision. The council further ruled that an annual conference, or regional body within the UMC, "may not negate, ignore, or violate provisions of the Discipline with which they disagree, even when the disagreements are based on conscientious objections to the provisions." The council’s ruling was on a resolution passed by the California-Nevada Annual Conference last year, months after the California...

Yesterday, 29 April 2008, at 3:32 PM, the United Methodist Church formally and explicitely rejected it's long held and Biblically-based mission to make disciples of Christ by saving souls, and declared officially that its mission is to transform the world. This codifies in the Book of Discipline of the UMC, its book of law, what was already the de facto case in practice. Here's the new text: The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.Here's the previous text: The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ....

"Grace Notes" for February 2008, by United Methodist Church Bishop Charlene Kammerer: Why we should care about God’s creation The psalmist has declared in Psalm 8: "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet..." My Christian...

Look long enough — look close enough — and you’ll see that Elly Lehnert has one blue eye and one green eye, a quirk of genetics that for all practical purposes means nothing. Except, perhaps, in the context of what follows: an attempt to help you see what Elly sees. What the 25-year-old with Irish ancestry and Lincoln roots sees are front steps without houses and trees without tops and people living 10 to a storage shed in the heat and mire of post-Katrina Mississippi. It’s the people in the sheds she cares about most. People the rest of us...

The Religious Left, in its historical commemorations, rarely if ever recalls the great holocausts committed by the totalitarian tyrants of the 20th century. The tens of millions slain by Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Tojo, not to mention the hundreds of thousands killed by Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Kim Il Sung, among others, never have reached a high level of importance. But never do the anniversaries of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and August 9, go by that the Religious Left does not mournfully don its sack cloth and ashes to atone for the mass murders...

Who does go to hell? Many people don't believe in hell at all. Non-Christian faiths have their own take, of course. Judaism, the religion that birthed Christianity, teaches of the eternal nature of the soul, a divine judgment, and a mostly undefined "World to Come." But specifics are left up to God. Islam is more like Christianity, with concrete traditions of paradise and hell. Who ends up where is a matter of how well the person submitted to God's will while alive. Hindus and Buddhists believe in karma and reincarnation, so the evil done in one life is atoned for...

WASHINGTON — Ninety-five bishops from President Bush's church said Thursday they repent their "complicity" in the "unjust and immoral" invasion and occupation of Iraq. "In the face of the United States administration's rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent," said a statement of conscience signed by more than half of the 164 retired and active United Methodist bishops worldwide. President Bush is a member of the United Methodist Church, according to various published biographies. The White House did not return a request for comment on the bishops' statement. Although United Methodist leadership has...

Pastor denies membership to homosexual, placed on leave July 26, 2005 A UMNS Report By Linda Green* A United Methodist pastor in Virginia has been placed on “involuntary leave of absence” for refusing to allow a homosexual to become a member of his congregation. The Rev. Edward Johnson was placed on a yearlong involuntary leave of absence, effective July 1, by action of the clergy of the denomination’s Virginia Annual (regional) Conference on June 13. He will receive medical benefits but no salary. The clergyman, pastor of South Hill (Va.) United Methodist Church for six years, could be reinstated as...

Native Americans suffer from 'historical trauma,' researcher says Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart describes the negative impact of historical trauma on Native Americans today. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart describes the negative impact of historical trauma on Native Americans today. Brave Heart is a research associate professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver. She spoke at the 2005 Native American Family Camp, held July 19-23 in Redlands, Calif., by the United Methodist Church’s Native American International Caucus. A Web-only photo by Edna Steinman. Photo #W05-093. Accompanies UMNS story #425. 7/27/05 July 27, 2005 By...

Local minister placed on involuntary leave Refusal to admit homosexual as member an issue By Mike Bollinger Staff Writer SOUTH HILL - A controversial national issue has made its presence felt in the local area as a South Hill minister has been placed on "involuntary leave of absence" after refusing to admit a homosexual member to his church. The Rev. Edward Johnson of South Hill United Methodist Church has been placed on a one-year, unpaid leave, according to the Rev. W. Anthony Layman, district superintendent for the Petersburg District of the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church. "The pastor...

Perry getting head start in appeal to 'values voters' ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS (AP) - Even for Texas, the scene was remarkable: The governor, flanked by an out-of-state televangelist and religious right leaders, signing legislation in a church school gymnasium amid shouts of "amen" from backers who just as well could have been attending a revival. It wasn't just the blatant blend of church and state that made the gathering in Fort Worth unusual. Advance publicity also attracted about 300 angry protesters - unheard of for the routine business of ceremonial bill signings. Now some wonder whether Rick Perry overplayed his...