The Rev. Julian Rush watched the headlines as 13 United Methodist pastors in the Pacific Northwest judged the fate of one of their colleagues.<\/p>\n\n
Few, if any, facts were in dispute. The Rev. Karen Dammann was living openly in a lesbian relationship and leveled with her superiors. And everyone knew, after a generation of bitter strife, that their Book of Discipline banned \u201cself-avowed practicing homosexuals\u201d from ministry, because gay sex is \u201cincompatible with Christian teachings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Rush wasn\u2019t surprised by the trial and he wasn\u2019t surprised by the verdict \u2014 not guilty.<\/p>\n\n
After all, he survived a similar ecclesiastical minefield two decades ago in Colorado.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhat surprised me was the way the news reports brought it all back,\u201d said Rush, 67, who rocked the whole United Methodist Church when he left the closet in 1981. \u201cIt was spooky, like a flashback. \u2026 I remembered that whole feeling of powerlessness and total vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s probably a good thing. No matter how much progress we\u2019ve made, we need to be reminded that things aren\u2019t settled yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Rush eventually retired with his clergy credentials intact. In the mid-1980s, his peers in the Rocky Mountain region twice ruled that there was \u201cinsufficient evidence\u201d to bring the AIDS activist and former youth pastor to trial. After all, church law focused on \u201cself-avowed practicing\u201d homosexuals and Rush simply declined to answer questions about his sex life.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI remember my lawyer saying, \u2018Make them prove it,\u2019 \u201d said Rush, whose easy-going manner still betrays his Mississippi roots. \u201cWhat were they going to do, hire a private investigator? No one wanted to do such an unseemly thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The Dammann jury found a similar technicality. While the Discipline says \u201cthe practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings,\u201d the jury ruled that it never formally, legally, makes a \u201cdeclaration\u201d of this. But the jury did find this declarative statement: \u201cInclusiveness means openness, acceptance, and support that enables all persons to participate in the life of the Church, the community and the world. Thus, inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Based on decades of experience, Rush knows what will happen next. Furious conservatives will, on April 27, arrive at the two-week national United Methodist General Conference \u201cwith their nostrils flared and breathing fire,\u201d he said. At the same time, the confidence of the church\u2019s progressive establishment will \u201cmove up a notch or two\u201d after a much-publicized victory. Both sides will go to Pittsburgh \u201cwith their guns loaded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
The Internet is buzzing with drafts of resolutions to fix the Discipline and to force the bishops to get their flocks under control. Leaders on both sides acknowledge that the evangelical, growing churches of the heartland and Bible Belt hold a clear majority. Some of their leaders will call for repentance and reform in the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cFact is \u2026 we don\u2019t need anything more in the Book of Discipline. We just need folks who are willing to abide by it or enforce it,\u201d said the Rev. James V. Heidinger II, president of the Good News renewal movement. \u201cWe could tweak and tighten, but unless folks are willing to abide by the will of General Conference, they will always find some words to parse or interpret differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Strangely enough, Rush basically agrees with this legal opinion. Laws cannot hide the fact that the United Methodist Church contains two radically different approaches to the faith, he said.<\/p>\n\n
Traditionalists believe there is an \u201cestablished,\u201d \u201cinfallible\u201d and \u201cpermanent core of doctrine that people have to believe if they are going to be Christians,\u201d said Rush. But the \u201cliberal side of the church sees itself as open and expansive and its doctrine, quite frankly, is not as well defined. It sees faith as a kind of process and it is constantly changing. \u2026<\/p>\n\n
\u201cOne side knows how to lay down the law and the other side knows how to emote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
But the infighting will continue, said Rush, because everyone is afraid to push the scary button labeled \u201cschism.\u201d That would be financially devastating.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cEveryone dances around that button,\u201d he said. \u201cThey really aren\u2019t trying to be clear and specific. They have to keep the Discipline vague enough to keep everyone in the tent. You end up with a kind of spiritual schizophrenia, but it holds things together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Rev. Julian Rush watched the headlines as 13 United Methodist pastors in the Pacific Northwest judged the fate of one of their colleagues. Few, if any, facts were in dispute. The Rev. Karen Dammann was living openly in a lesbian relationship and leveled with her superiors. And everyone knew, after a generation of bitter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[248,439,526,553],"class_list":["post-1277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colorado","tag-homosexuality","tag-mainline-protestantism","tag-methodists"],"yoast_head":"\n