{"id":11940,"date":"2004-04-30T11:43:08","date_gmt":"2004-04-30T15:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/?p=11940"},"modified":"2013-05-10T15:16:29","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T19:16:29","slug":"april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2004\/04\/30\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\/11940\/","title":{"rendered":" United Methodist Church Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2004\/04\/methodistconference-post01-procession.jpg\" alt=\"methodistconference-post01-procession\" width=\"280\" height=\"210\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-11943\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>BOB ABERNETHY<\/strong>, anchor: The United Methodist Church &#8212; the second largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. &#8212; opened its 11-day-long General Conference in Pittsburgh this week. The highest legislative body of the church meets only every four years. This time, gay issues are expected to dominate, as Kim Lawton reports.<\/p>\n<p><strong>KIM LAWTON<\/strong>: Nearly a thousand delegates from all over the world have gathered to set the agenda for the United Methodist Church. They are addressing a host of issues, from Iraq to racism and church finances, and most contentious of all, the denomination&#8217;s opposition to homosexuality.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, a United Methodist jury in Washington State acquitted an openly lesbian pastor, the Reverend Karen Dammann, of violating church teachings.<\/p>\n<p>Upset conservatives are pushing delegates to uphold church stands.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2004\/04\/methodistconference-post02-protest.jpg\" alt=\"methodistconference-post02-protest\" width=\"280\" height=\"210\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-11944\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>MARK TOOLEY<\/strong> (Institute on Religion &amp; Democracy): We&#8217;re confident that the conference here will once again reaffirm the historic church teachings on marriage and sex. But we&#8217;re hoping the conference will go beyond that and have something to say about enforcement and accountability.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAWTON<\/strong>: Meanwhile, gay rights advocates are trying to change language in the church&#8217;s BOOK OF DISCIPLINE, which says that homosexuality is &#8220;incompatible with Christian teaching.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rev.\u00a0<strong>PHIL LAWSON<\/strong> (Retired United Methodist Minister): We want those words deleted. Those words are used by many people to do violence against gays and lesbians and transgender people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAWTON<\/strong>: Vigorous debate is expected before the meeting ends on May 7. I&#8217;m Kim Lawton reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United Methodist Church &mdash; the second largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. &mdash; opened its 11-day-long General Conference in Pittsburgh this week. The highest legislative body of the church meets only every four years. This time, gay issues are expected to dominate. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2004\/04\/30\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\/11940\/\" class=\"more\">More <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":17805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6121,10684,1787,1379,7364],"class_list":["post-11940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gay-clergy","tag-general-conference","tag-homosexuality","tag-same-sex-marriage","tag-united-methodist","topics-us-domestic-issues","faith-protestant"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>April 30, 2004 ~ United Methodist Church Conference | April 30, 2004 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The United Methodist Church &mdash; the second largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. &mdash; opened its 11-day-long General Conference in Pittsburgh this week. The highest legislative body of the church meets only every four years. This time, gay issues are expected to dominate.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2004\/04\/30\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\/11940\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"April 30, 2004 ~ United Methodist Church Conference | April 30, 2004 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United Methodist Church &mdash; the second largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. &mdash; opened its 11-day-long General Conference in Pittsburgh this week. The highest legislative body of the church meets only every four years. This time, gay issues are expected to dominate.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2004\/04\/30\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\/11940\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBS.ReligionEthics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-04-30T15:43:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-10T19:16:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2004\/04\/methodistconference-thumb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Bailey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionEthics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ReligionEthics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Bailey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/30\\\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\\\/11940\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/30\\\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\\\/11940\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Bailey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79737424ab595da57f7f35aadcd74d1d\"},\"headline\":\"United Methodist Church Conference\",\"datePublished\":\"2004-04-30T15:43:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-10T19:16:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/30\\\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\\\/11940\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":250,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/30\\\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\\\/11940\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/methodistconference-thumb.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"gay clergy\",\"General Conference\",\"homosexuality\",\"same-sex marriage\",\"United Methodist\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/30\\\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\\\/11940\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/30\\\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\\\/11940\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/30\\\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\\\/11940\\\/\",\"name\":\"April 30, 2004 ~ United Methodist Church Conference | April 30, 2004 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/30\\\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\\\/11940\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/30\\\/april-30-2004-united-methodist-church-conference\\\/11940\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2004\\\/04\\\/methodistconference-thumb.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2004-04-30T15:43:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-10T19:16:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79737424ab595da57f7f35aadcd74d1d\"},\"description\":\"The United Methodist Church &mdash; the second largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. &mdash; opened its 11-day-long General Conference in Pittsburgh this week. 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