United Methodists announce plan to separate
According to Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, who was part of a group of 16 leaders associated with the United Methodist Church who met and negotiated what is known as the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation, writes on the IRD's Juicy Ecumenism blog:
United Methodism moved closer to formal schism with a new proposal released today negotiated with liberal and conservative groups, including bishops. The plan would divide the nearly 13 million member global denomination into separate conservative and liberal communions.The website, UnitedMethodistBishops.org, states:
The action comes amid heightened tensions in the church over conflicting views related to human sexuality after the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference failed to resolve differences among church members.At that conference, a majority of delegates voted to retain the United Methodist Church's view regarding homosexuality's violation of Scripture, which essentially blocked the ordination of gay clergy and the performance of same-sex marriages within the denomination.
A professional mediator was brought in to handle the negotiations. Tooley writes:
Under this plan, conferences (Methodism’s version of dioceses or presbyteries) could vote by 2021 to join the conservative denomination by a 57% vote. Local churches by 2024 could vote by majority. The conservative denomination would get $25 million from current denominational assets.The Bishops' website makes it clear: "The Protocol anticipates the formation of a new traditionalist Methodist denomination." So, rather than those who do not hold to the Traditional Plan leaving, it appears that the conservatives will be leaving the denomination and forming their own.
It is subject to approval at the next UMC General Conference in Minneapolis in May.
One of the signers of the Protocol, Keith Boyette, The President of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, which is a group of United Methodist representatives calling the denomination to adherence to Scripture, stated, according to the Association's website: "This is a very important agreement, and the most hopeful development in a dispute that has undermined the health and vitality of both local churches and the denomination in general,” adding,“Since the close of the 2019 General Conference Renewal and Reform groups leaders have engaged in conversations with other advocacy group leaders, bishops, and church officials in an effort to resolve our differences through a negotiated plan of separation...We are thankful for those who have stepped forward since that contentious General Conference to propose an agreement respecting the sincere theological and ethical convictions of Methodists across the board.” The site also says:
The mediation team assumed the Wesleyan Covenant Association would serve as the vehicle for creating a new traditionalist Methodist denomination. It is also assumed the post-separation UM Church would quickly move to adopt legislation creating a U.S. Regional Conference, and that conference would consider changing its sexual ethics, allowing same-sex weddings, and ordaining openly gay clergy.In brief for Supreme Court case, members of Congress urge high court to rethink Roe
Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will be considering, as the website, The Hill, puts it, a law passed in Louisiana "that would require doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, a requirement that critics say is designed to force abortion clinics to close."
In response, over 200 members of Congress - 166 Republican House members, 2 Democrat House members, and 39 Senators - have signed on to an amicus, or "friend-of-the-court" brief that calls on the justices to "reconsider" the landmark ruling from 1973, Roe vs. Wade.
The article states:
The lawmakers noted the “unworkability” of the “right to abortion” found in Roe v. Wade, and suggested the court take up the issue of whether the case should be reconsidered and, if appropriate, overruled.The story notes that this is the first abortion case the high court has considered since the addition of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, the two appointees of President Trump. It also points out:
The Supreme Court in 2016 struck down an almost identical law in Texas because it resulted in the closure of half of the state’s abortion clinics, which would place an “undue burden” on women seeking a legal abortion.
But the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas, considered to be one of the most conservative courts in the country, upheld the Louisiana restrictions in a 2-1 decision, finding that it was "remarkably different" than the Texas law.
The court found there was “no evidence” any abortion clinics would close under the Louisiana law because it was easier for doctors to obtain admitting privileges in the state.U.S. Postal Service restricts religious expression on custom stamps
The United States Postal Service allows individuals to design and print their own stamps, according to The Daily Citizen, a website of Focus on the Family, which reports that apparently that comes with limitations.
It recounts the story of Susan Fletcher, described as "a devout Christian who wishes to share her faith with her family and friends, especially around Christmastime. She tried to do that this Christmas by creating custom stamps through USPS." Some examples include a stamp with a Nativity scene, as well as another with a cross on it. However, she ran into USPS regulations that, according to the article, "prohibit any stamp design that depicts 'political, religious, violent or sexual content.'"
But as The Daily Citizen relates:
As an agency of the executive branch of the federal government, the USPS is required by law to abide by the First Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits Congress from abridging the freedom of speech.The article quotes from a press release from First Liberty, which has sued the Postal Service. Jeremy Dys, who has been a guest on The Meeting House in the past, is quoted as saying, "USPS offers its own version of a religious stamp, but, ironically, it will not allow religious Americans to personalize stamps containing an expression of their own religious beliefs for their own use. This regulation by the USPS not only chills speech, it silences it..." According to the press release, Fletcher said,“I just want to express my faith in everything I do, at Christmas and all throughout the year. I am truly saddened that the country I love would keep me from expressing the most important message I could share with others: my faith.”
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