Ivory Coast Splits With UMC but Kenya and Other African Conferences Slow To Follow
‘You don’t throw away the relationship of your sibling because you do not agree on an issue,’ said a former UMC bishop from Nairobi.
Pope Apologizes After Being Quoted Using Vulgar Term About Gay Men in Talk About Ban on Gay Priests
The incident underscored how the church’s official teaching bumps against the reality that there are gay priests and plenty of LGBTQ+ Catholics who want to be fully part of the life and sacraments of the church.
He Feared Coming Out. Now This Pastor Wants to Help Black Churches Become As Welcoming as His Own
Myrtle Baptist Church takes pride in its inclusive congregation, but many Black churches and denominations in the U.S. remain opposed to celebrating same-sex marriages or ordaining openly LGBTQ+ clergy.
United Methodists Scrap Their Anti-Gay Bans. A Woman Who Defied Them Seeks Reinstatement As Pastor
Earlier this month, delegates at a United Methodist Church conference struck down the UMC’s longstanding anti-LGBTQ policies and created a path for clergy ousted because of them to return.
Far-Right Christians Blame Madonna’s ‘Satanic’ Concert for Floods in Southern Brazil
Christian pastors and social media influencers have connected the concert's sexual content with unprecedented floods that have devastated cities in Rio Grande do Sul state and killed 116 people.
Grace College Professor Ousted After Online Commentators Flag ‘Woke’ Social Media Posts
It’s the latest in a string of professor terminations at Christian colleges seemingly tied to clashes over narrowing and often unspoken political and theological criteria.
After Vote to Repeal LGBTQ Bans, Many Gay Methodists Are Now Fully Out
On the first Sunday after the conclusion of the denomination’s General Conference, many queer United Methodists celebrated their release from the tight and narrow spaces that had confined them.
Methodists End Anti-Gay Bans, Closing 50 Years of Battles Over Sexuality for Mainline Protestants
The nation’s largest Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Lutheran denominations have all now removed barriers to LGBTQ participation in the pulpit and at the altar.
United Methodists Repeal Longstanding Ban on LGBTQ Clergy
The consensus was so overwhelming that it was rolled into a 'consent calendar,' a package of normally non-controversial measures that are bundled into a single vote to save time.
United Methodists Begin to Reverse Longstanding Anti-LGBTQ Policies
The 667-54 vote, coming during their legislative General Conference, removes some of the scaffolding around the UMC's longstanding bans on LGBTQ-affirming policies regarding ordination, marriage, and funding.