Methodists, homosexuals and Boy Scouts

When the "Reverend" Karen Dammann got "married" to a woman last month, she should have expected to be ousted from the United Methodist "Church" in which she serves as a pastor. The United Methodist "Book of Discipline," in accordance with 17 references to homosexuality in the Old and New Testaments, declares, "Self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be accepted as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in the United Methodist Church" and homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching."

But on March 20, a jury of 13 Methodist pastors considering charges that Rev. Dammann had violated church law deluded, "We searched the Discipline and did not find a declaration that 'the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings.'" It is a sure sign of a morally confused jury when its members quote the very passage of law they claim does not exist. Actually, they explained their decision by pretending that none of the references to homosexuality in the "Book of Discipline" "constitute a declaration."

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It isn't that the members of the United Methodist jury are irreligious. They do a good deal of worship at the altars of social justice, diversity, tolerance, inclusion and all those other gods in whose name they burned the Bible the other day.

The trial in Bothell, Wash., was only a prelude to the big bonfire planned for next month in Pittsburgh, Pa. That's where the United Methodists, America's third-largest church denomination, will hold its annual General Conference and make decisions about its policies on various issues of homosexuality.

A likely topic of debate at the United Methodist General Conference will be the Boy Scouts of America. What does the UMC have to do with the BSA? The United Methodist Church happens to be the largest sponsor of the Boy Scouts in the country. Nearly 13 percent of Boy Scouts – almost half a million boys – belong to troops chartered to a Methodist church.

In the past, the Boy Scouts have been a point of mild contention for the United Methodists. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the case of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale that the Boy Scouts have the constitutional right to set their own membership policies banning homosexuals from positions of membership and leadership, and the conservative United Methodist Church Men's Organization filed a friend of the court brief as an ally of the Scouts.

At the same time, the liberal General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church filed a friend of the court in opposition to the Boy Scouts, explaining that while it would "like to enthusiastically affirm and encourage this continuing partnership of the church and scouting, we cannot due to the Boy Scouts of America's discrimination against gays."

Due to the division between the General Board of Church and Society and the Men's Organization, the denomination has considered itself stalemated regarding the Boy Scouts.

But today, the Boy Scouts question stands in stark proximity to the larger question of homosexuality in the United Methodist Church. It is time for the General Assembly to choose a side in the culture – either God or man, spirit or flesh.

Sadly, with the acceptance of Rev. Dammann, it appears that the flesh is winning. In contemplation of the Boy Scouts, it seems that the voice of the General Board of Church and Society is louder than that of the United Methodist Men's Organization. While the Men's Organization has most of the operating authority over the church's relationship to the Boy Scouts of America, a policy decision in the General Conference about the Boy Scouts is inevitable.

The United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church have made recent resolutions distancing themselves from the Boy Scouts, though only the Unitarian Universalists refuse to sponsor troops altogether. A United Methodist church-wide resolution condemning the Boy Scouts seems like a possibility these days, and it would have dangerous consequences for the Scouts.

First, thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of Boy Scouts would be threatened with the loss of their troop charter and meeting place. Second, the pressures on the Scouts to give up the ban on homosexual members and leaders would intensify. A hard-line, pro-homosexual policy in the United Methodist Church would wreak havoc in a sizable corner of Scouting.

The United Methodist Church must answer with finality whether it will even uphold the mere principles of the Scout Oath, of "duty to God," and "morally straight." At least the Boy Scouts still stand for truth and character.