Pastor Mark Williams

Delegate Reports

Day 9 - Tuesday, May 4

It had been reported that it was likely that issues related to homosexuality would come to the floor of conference today. In anticipation of that fact, witnesses here with the Reconciling Ministries Network lined the sidewalk to doors of the convention center in prayer for the delegates as they entered. As I approached the convention center and saw them, I felt the emotions already beginning to rise in me. When I began walking along the last stretch of sidewalk where the witnesses prayed, I was moved to tears. Many of them kneeled on the concrete with their eyes closed in prayer. Others stood silently, offering their unspoken blessings to delegates as they arrived.

I sat as a voting delegate throughout the morning and afternoon sessions because one of our voting delegates was ill. The session began with the issue of elections to Judicial Council being reopened. Presiding Bishop Blake explained his ruling that all the ballots cast on Monday were invalid. The ballots cast for the six reserve delegates were clearly invalidated because of the recognition that the electronic voting program was in error. The elections of Jon Gray and Beth Capen were invalidated because the margin of votes that elected them was smaller than the margin of possible error due to the electronic voting program failure. The technological advisor assured the delegates that a patch had been installed that fixed the problem.

Upon re-balloting for the two lay members of Judicial Council, Jon Gray was again elected with a majority of votes cast on the first ballot. Again, Beth Capen was elected on the third ballot. The six reserve delegates were all elected with a majority of the votes cast in the mass ballot for all six positions.

The conference next voted on the two clergy positions on Judicial Council. Susan Henry-Crowe, a progressive woman from the Southeastern Jurisdiction, was elected on the first ballot. On the third ballot, a conservative pastor from New Jersey, Dennis Blackwell, was elected. Upon balloting for the six reserve delegates, the first reserve clergy elected was Paul Shamwange Kyungu from Africa. Since there has already been an announcement of a resignation from the Judicial Council by Larry Pickens, effective this summer, Paul Shamwange Kyungu will certainly be a seated member of Judicial Council for the next four years. Jane Tews, the nominee who was elected and then whose election was reversed at General Conference in 2000, failed to make the reserve list. There will be no members or reserves from the Western Jurisdiction on the Judicial Council for the next four years.

After the morning break, Bishop Blake announced that the remainder of the calendar items to be considered throughout the day were intentionally chosen to deal with all matters related to homosexuality that would be coming before the conference. Beginning with the Church and Society, the agenda for the day was set to handle all petitions related to homosexuality from all the legislative committees.

Church and Society presented their petition to amend paragraph 161G. The petition presented on behalf of a majority of the committee was to add the sentence "We recognize that Christians disagree about the compatibility of homosexual practice with Christian teaching." A minority report was presented by Eddie Fox, a conservative evangelical leader. His minority report, presented as a substitute motion, was to retain the current language regarding the incompatibility of homosexual practice and add a phrase that states that "we will strive to live together in Christian unity," with no reference to differing opinions on the topic.

In debating the main motion and the substitute motion, four of the six delegates that Bishop Blake called on to speak against recognizing our differing opinions were delegates from Africa. Each African delegate condemned the conversation itself, and stated that the General Conference could not soften its condemnation of homosexuality without losing its African members. One African delegate argued, "We cannot license people to go to hell," explaining that to step back from adamant condemnation of homosexuality would be tantamount to encouraging gay people to go to hell. Another African delegate argued that if we condoned homosexuality, which wasn't actually what was being considered, then everyone might decide to become gay, and the human race would die out as a result of our failure to procreate. Bishop Blake's choice to call on an unrepresentative number of African delegates to speak on the matter seemed intentional. There were many hands raised to speak against recognizing our differing opinions, but he chose almost exclusively those African delegates who were rising to speak to the issue. One person rose to point out a clarification that Central Conference delegates such as the Africans who spoke earlier were empowered by the Book of Discipline to amend their own versions of the Book of Discipline to reflect their own cultural context and missional needs. In effect, they are voting and arguing for changes in the Discipline that they will not necessarily have to live with.

Speeches in favor of the main motion, in support of recognizing our differing opinions were eloquent and impassioned. A courageous delegate from Mississippi, who also spoke in the committee, spoke from the floor of the Conference appealing to them to allow him to speak a word of grace on behalf of the denomination to the young progressive people and GLBT people who come to his university congregation to worship. A young delegate from Northern Illinois appealed to the body to speak the truth, recognizing that we are divided and of differing opinions. To refuse to recognize our differing opinions, he explained, would disenfranchise and disregard the minority on this volatile issue, and it would be fundamentally duplicitous to imply a unanimity that we are clearly far from achieving.

Prior to taking the vote on these items, the bishop paused for a moment of silence. During the silence, the Reconciling Ministries/Affirmation/Methodist Federation for Social Action people in the gallery stood and sang a verse of "Amazing Grace." The vote to make the substitute motion the main motion passed by about 58%. The vote to approve the "we will strive to live in Christian unity" language passed by 61%. In other words, 61% of the General Conference voted against recognizing the truth that we are in disagreement. One man shouted from the gallery, "This is injustice!"

The lunch break found many of us weeping and gathered around the noontime communion table that has been offered each day by the bishops. This communion service was attended in much greater numbers than any others, as many of those disappointed by the previous vote gathered to worship and stand with one another. Following the service, two delegates took the chalice used in the communion service and threw it on the ground, shattering it. It was an apt symbol for how my heart felt at that moment.

Further legislation on homosexuality followed the lunch break. A petition was approved to make the disqualification of self-avowed practicing homosexuals from ministry more adamantly stated. Another petition was presented that would have added the phrase, "As this difficult judgment is made, it is acknowledged that faithful Christians hold differing opinions on this matter," in relation to the rejection of gay candidates for ministry. That petition failed by a vote of 48% to 51%. Still attending to the same paragraph in the Discipline, another petition was considered to reject an appeal to remove "self-avowed" from the description of rejected gay candidates for ministry. The petition also proposed changing the phrase prohibiting self-avowed practicing homosexuals from being "accepted as candidates," to "certified as candidates." This would have the effect of allowing openly gay candidates for ministry to remain in the candidacy process legally up until the point of certification by their district committees on ministry. This petition to retain the "self-avowed" language and refer to "certified" candidates passed 53% to 47%.

Perhaps the most remarkable vote count came at the very end of the evening session, when it was proposed that the list of chargeable offenses be amended to add specific charges related to sexuality. The petition proposed to name specifically "not being celibate in singleness or not faithful in heterosexual marriage" as a chargeable offense. It went on to list specifically as chargeable offenses "being a self-avowed practicing homosexual, conducting ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions, or performing same-sex weddings." This petition was passed by a vote of 455 to 445 (50.5%).

Pacific Northwest delegates who spoke powerfully and eloquently in today's debate included Bob Hoshibata and Tom Wilson. Both of their speeches against more restrictive, punitive language against openly gay people appealed for grace. They anticipated the shameful sins that we commit today that we will have to repent for in the future, similarly to our service of repentance for racism earlier in this General Conference session.

With each of these votes, my mind kept wandering back to the first petition of the day, as people argued against acknowledging that we hold differing opinions about homosexuality. The truth that we are divided and of differing opinions played itself out over and over again, as sometimes a 65% majority, sometimes a 50.5% majority carried incredibly contentious votes. In my opinion, the 2004 Book of Discipline will include an implicit lie. We are of differing opinions, and a significant minority of delegates to General Conference not only disagree with the declaration that will be contained about homosexuality in the 2004 Discipline, but that minority will be deeply wounded and dismissed by a tyrannical majority. Obviously, this is just my opinion.

Finally, the last item that I took special note of today was the report of the ruling from the Judicial Council as to whether their earlier ruling should be applied to the verdict in Karen Dammann's case, and if a bishop can appoint someone found by a trial court to be a self-avowed practicing homosexual. The declaratory ruling, intended to clarify, was in many ways remarkably unclear. Regarding the first point, 5 out of 9 of the Judicial Council members voted that the Judicial Council has no jurisdiction to consider anything about the verdict in the trial of Pastor Karen Dammann. They offered no word as to how their earlier ruling should be applied to this case because they had no right under church law to consider it. In the second issue, the Council announced that a bishop was prohibited from appointing someone found by a trial court to be a self-avowed practicing homosexual, but then they also affirmed that under church law every pastor in good standing is entitled to an appointment. They stated that this ruling was prospective and not retroactive to Pastor Karen Dammann or anyone else's case.

Four council members wrote an extensive dissent, objecting to the majority's decision not to open the case of Pastor Karen Dammann. They agreed in substance with the council's majority opinion that a bishop cannot appoint a self-avowed practicing homosexual. Three other council members wrote a brief dissent, agreeing with the majority's opinion not to reopen Pastor Karen Dammann's case, but disagreeing with the ruling that they had the authority to state that a pastor who was found by a trial court to be a self-avowed practicing homosexual was not to be appointed by her bishop.

Thus, in parts, 7 of the 9 Judicial Council members signed dissenting opinions to the majority. Again, the irony that our General Conference voted to deny the fact that our church holds differing opinions is astonishing to me.

This ruling seems to clearly indicate that the verdict in Pastor Karen Dammann's case is closed and it will stand. It also seems to make it even more unclear as to what her appointment status will be when she chooses to request an appointment. The ruling appears to both assert the prohibition against the bishop from appointing her, and her entitlement to an appointment as a pastor in good standing, without outstanding complaints.

All in all, this day has felt like open heart surgery without anesthesia... or sharp instruments. It has felt deeply painful, offensive, and hypocritical. I have wept along with others over both the outcomes of many of the votes, as well as the duplicitous spirit of the debate and procedures. I realize that many delegates and observers are surely celebrating this night, but many others are left feeling steamrolled and lied to.

The bright notes, in my mind, are that the votes were often quite close. Even with the reformulating of delegations that reduced the representation to General Conference from the Western and Northeastern Jurisdictions, still the votes were often narrower than the 2/3rds to 1/3 split that seemed to carry the day in 2000. And while I mourn that the Western Jurisdiction has been completely disenfranchised and will remain without any voice on the Judicial Council, I also celebrate the election of good new members to Judicial Council.

After so much emotion and struggle, I feel completely wasted this evening. I wonder if I'll have a different take on today's events, once I have the perspective of a night's sleep.

Mark Williams
Pacific Northwest Conference Delegation
First Alternate Delegate

The First United Methodist Church of Ellensburg

Delegate Reports

Day 9 - Tuesday, May 4