Letters: A church's schism over gay marriage

Former United Methodist pastor Frank Schaefer embraces the Rev. Lorelei Toombs during a news conference after the church announced its decision to defrock Schaefer for performing a same-sex marriage.

Dec. 24, 2013 12 AM PT

Re “Methodist pastor defrocked,” Dec. 20

I write in defense of the defrocked minister, the Rev. Frank Schaefer, who officiated at the marriage of his gay son. As a fellow Methodist minister in a denomination that has led the charge on so many civil rights issues, I am ashamed.

Many states now recognize same sex-marriages, and yet the United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline still says that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”

This doesn’t reflect the thinking of most Methodists in the Western U.S., the upper Midwest or the Northeast. But we keep getting outvoted at our general conference by ministers from the Midwest, Southeast and United Methodist churches in other nations.

As an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, I would be honored to officiate at a gay wedding. Our Book of Discipline must be revised to make our motto really ring true: “Open hearts, open minds, and open doors.”

The Rev. Inman Moore

Pasadena

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