The United Methodist Church, America’s second largest Protestant denomination, has announced a plan to split the church into two or more sects. Disagreement over gay marriage is driving this schism.
The plan would pledge $25 million for the creation a new “traditionalist Methodist” denomination, one that would continue to ban same sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy. In order to make the split official, Church leaders will have to approve it at the United Methodist conference in May. Both conservative and liberal Methodist figures have said that passage is likely.
According to the New York Times, leaders have been anticipating a separation in the church for a little under a year, ever since a general conference last February when 53% of participants voted to tighten the ban on same-sex marriage.
In the months following, a plan was put together by a 16-member committee of bishops and other church representatives, who determined that separation was “the best means to resolve our differences, allowing each part of the Church to remain true to its theological understanding.”
From The Washington Post:
Friday’s announcement came as new sanctions were set to go into effect in the church, which would have made punishments for United Methodist Church pastors who perform same-sex weddings much more severe: one year’s suspension without pay for the first wedding and removal from the clergy for any wedding after that.
Instead, leaders from liberal and conservative wings signed an agreement saying they will postpone those sanctions and instead vote to split at the worldwide church’s May general conference.
