Conservatives say they are encouraged by the continuing shift in the 9.6 million-member body.
For two decades, the word “pluralism” has characterized the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination. It appears those days are over. “The time has come to say the last rites over the notion that the defining characteristic of United Methodist [DM] theology is pluralism,” proclaimed UM Bishop Jack M. Tuell in the traditional “state of the church” Episcopal Address last month in St. Louis to the 1988 UM General Conference. The general conference, which meets every four years, is the denomination’s highest governing body.
Tuell observed that many “have been led to believe that United Methodists can believe anything they want to.” He added, “That is simply not true.” Referring to the church’s declining membership, Tuell said, “There is no evangelistic appeal to join a group whose principal identifying mark is that everyone disagrees with everyone else.” He called for the resurgence of “an assurance of God’s love so compelling that I’ve got to share it with my neighbor.”
A New Direction
Tuell also spoke against alcohol and tobacco, further testifying to the denomination’s conservative shift. But leaders of the conservative movement regard the approval of a new major statement of the church’s theology as the most significant signal.
Four years ago, due largely to petitions from conservatives, the general conference authorized a re-examination of the theological statement adopted in 1972. The 1972 statement extolled the virtues of pluralism and gave equal weight to Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason—the Wesleyan quadrilateral—in the search for truth.
The new statement, developed by a team of theologians and modified by the general conference’s Faith and Mission Committee, gives primacy to Scripture. And it banishes the word pluralism. Duke University Divinity
School professor Thomas Langford, who chaired the Faith and Mission Committee, observed that the document draws a sharp distinction between theology, which is exploratory, and doctrinal affirmations, which “provide an identifiable anchor for the church.” While hailing theological freedom, he said statements resulting from this freedom should not be confused with the church’s doctrinal stands.
Some critics suggested the document’s emphasis on Scripture will lead the church into a debate on inerrancy. Langford quickly dismissed this possibility. Calling U.S. fundamentalism a “Calvinist heresy,” he said that, while the new statement emphasizes Scripture, it grants important roles for the other elements of the Wesleyan quadrilateral. It affirms the emphases of Methodism’s father, John Wesley, who believed that Christian faith stands “revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason.”
Conservative spokesmen also disregarded the likelihood of an inerrancy debate. Ed Robb, a pastor and one of the leading spokesmen for the church’s evangelical caucus, called Good News, said conservative Methodists hold to the “authority of Scripture in matters of faith and practice, not geology.”
Conservative Gains
Good News is widely credited for orchestrating the conservative shift, in part by coordinating legislative efforts at the general conference. James Heidinger, executive editor of Good News magazine, recalled that eight years ago, Good News representatives left the meeting “feeling like we’d just been hit by a truck.” Last month, in closed-door strategy sessions, they counted their victories.
Heidinger summarized the conference with a confident smile, saying, “It’s been a great week.” He was referring not just to theological developments, but to conservative gains on the issues of abortion and homosexuality.
Delegates amended the denomination’s stand on abortion by adding the statement, “We cannot affirm abortion as an acceptable means of birth control, and we unconditionally reject it as a means of gender selection.” Opponents of the amendment argued that it adds nothing to the church’s stated position, which includes the assertion that “tragic conflicts of life with life may justify abortion.”
But Helen Rhea Coppedge, chairman of the Good News board, labeled the statement “phenomenal,” adding that it moves the denomination “in the direction of greater caution and reluctance. That is a shift.” Abortion opponents, however, failed in their efforts to see through an amendment to the church’s statement on responsible parenthood. The amendment stated that “the unborn human life is a human being and therefore has a right to be born, loved, and cared for.”
General Conference delegates reaffirmed by a 765-to-181 margin the church’s position that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” They also retained a ban on ordination of homosexuals. Delegates did, however, authorize a four-year study of homosexuality, which will include psychological and sociological analyses.
Despite their successes in the theological realm, conservatives generally continue to be uneasy with the church’s official positions on U.S. public and foreign policy. Robb said there is no inevitable link between conservative theology and conservative politics. But he maintains that the church’s official views are at odds with the views of grassroots United Methodists.
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For example, delegates approved a document on economic justice that political conservatives regard as a blanket criticism of free-market economics. Social ethics professor J. Philip Wogaman of Wesley Theological Seminary, who supported the document, said there was no reference to Scripture in an alternative statement proposed by conservatives, who are “most eager to affirm the primacy of Scripture in theological matters.”
In other actions, delegates:
• Voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new United Methodist Hymnal. This came after the restoration of the word “his” to 53 references to God in the hymnal’s Psalter. Robb characterized the consensus on the hymnal as a “miracle,” voicing satisfaction at the large-scale inclusion of contemporary evangelical hymns.
• Voted to establish a church-wide unit on older adult ministries, one of whose purposes will be to advocate civil and human rights for the elderly.
• Agreed to join the boycott of Shell Oil products because of that company’s alleged role in supporting apartheid in South Africa. The action was approved narrowly; some delegates maintain that Shell has a good record of advocating reform.
• Adopted a statement condemning as “a manifestation of the sin of racism” what was described as a national movement to make English the only official language.
By Randy Frame in St. Louis.
ANALYSIS
Right Turn
During the last quarter century, liberals have clearly been in control of the United Methodist Church. Moderates, on the other hand, have been slow to learn the legislative game, but they have had enormous grassroots strength. However, in the aftermath of the 1988 conference, it appears they have finally found their voice.
For example, in every general conference since 1976 the press has touted homosexuality as the bellwether issue. Apparently delegates are getting weary of this inflated exposure. They voted by larger margins than ever to retain previous restrictions—that homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching,” that self-avowed practicing homosexuals must not be ordained or appointed as clergy, and that funds may not be used to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.
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In fact, the chief proponent of gay advocacy, the Commission of the Status and Role of Women, came within a fraction of 1 percent of being dissolved—another sign of a laity dissatisfied with persistent efforts to legitimize homosexuality.
In addition, attempts to revise the proper names for the Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—were rejected. And hymnal revision was approved by a 893-to-29 vote after 35 psalms were amended to restore masculine pronouns for God.
Perhaps the most crucial action of this conference was the clarification of the constitutional status of Wesley’s Sermons and Notes Upon the New Testament as “established standards of doctrine.” Both strongly affirm the primacy of Scripture.
By Thomas Oden, professor of Theology and Ethics, Drew University
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