Member-only story
Segregating Bigoted Churches? I’m All for It.
I prefer these rancid behind-the-times churches stand full frontal on what they believe. Let us see you for who you are.
A quarter of Methodist congregations abandon the church as schism grows over LGBTQ issues — USA Today. 12/20/23
When I heard that the United Methodist Church officially split over same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy, I was outraged.
For more than a decade I was a content Methodist. I walked in wary, not one to embrace shaming language and guilt-soaked preaching, “sin, repent, Original Sin” or conditional entry into the Gates. Blekk. Not my kind of God.
I had no reason to feel this way, having had zero religious trauma as a child. Mom was an easy-going Methodist, Dad a humble agnostic.
I joined because I believed in God. I needed religious comforts and rituals, and I wanted my daughter to grow up with a sense of faith and God-love. The Methodists seemed the least worst. Less wrathful God, more loving Jesus. Women in the clergy.
Back then I paid almost no attention to LGBTQ issues, pro-choice was high on my activist radar. I was not pleased with anti-choice Methodism but I…
