Mark Tooley— On Saturday, May 1, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to add language to the denomination’s Social Principles endorsing “laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”  The vote was 625 to 184 among the delegates from around the world.  “This statement will send a powerful message to American society and other nations where there is a Methodist presence that our church affirms traditional marriage as a vital part of every human society,” commented Mark Tooley, who directs IRD’s UMAction. 
Excerpted from IRD News Release, Monday, May 3, 2004.

 David M. and Jean Leu Stanley—Overseas delegates, especially those from our alive and growing African churches, were most influential.  They strongly supported the traditional Christian faith and sexual morality.  Their growing membership will give them even more votes in future General Conferences. 
 The Stanley’s excellent report with overviews of the good and the bad at GC2004, and an assessment of challenges ahead may be ordered by using the newsletter form.

 Rev. Wesley Putnam— Of the group “Soulforce”—The participants walked through the conference floor for approximately 20 minutes, carrying protest posters and singing.  They even had access to the convention hall sound system.  They brought baptismal water and poured it into the conference baptismal font.  They placed a large rainbow-colored candle in the center of the altar table where it stayed for the remainder of the day.  At least 29 of our bishops stood to show their support of the demonstrators, indicating their opposition to the Discipline and the legislation that had been enacted in the previous days.

 Two bishops actually joined in the march.  Hundreds of delegates joined in the demonstration either by standing in their place or joining in the march.  The sacraments and the liturgies of the church were hijacked and politicized with the permission and seeming endorsement of the Council of Bishops.  It was indeed one of the saddest days I’ve every experienced as a United Methodist clergyman.
 Wesley Putnam is a United Methodist conference evangelist from Texas.  He is a fifth-generation United Methodist clergyman.  His full report, “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly” is available on his web site wputnam@wesleyputnam.org, or through RENEW.

 Mr. Bob Matson, Bristol, Wisconsin—Perhaps I have a tin ear, but reading some of the final reports issued from Pittsburgh simply did not ring true to me.  Rather than being deeply moved…over the broken chalice—my spirit could only think in terms of the childhood rhyme, Humpty Dumpty.  Do they really believe their Unity Resolution is going to paper over the great rift this General Conference exposed to the world?  I don’t think so!

 Dr. David C. Steinmetz—Ironically, the ban on gay ordination is not without its problems for conservatives.  In one sense the General Conference gave conservatives almost everything they wanted.  No Methodist trial court can now claim that the ban on gay ordination is ambiguous or that there are no penalties for noncompliance.  But as politicians know, it is one thing to write a law and quite another to enforce it.  Will a toughened church law win the hearts and minds of a large and potentially uncooperative liberal minority?  Or will the minority subvert church law by small (and possibly large) acts of civil disobedience? 

                        What the General Conference demonstrated is what the General Conference refused to concede, even as a token gesture—namely, that on the question of gay ordination there are two Methodist Churches rather than one.  Whether these two churches can continue to live together as one family will be severely tested in the next four years.
Dr. Steinmetz is the Amos Ragan Kearns Professor at the Divinity School of Duke University in Durham, N.C.  He wrote this commentary for the Orlando Sentinel.