Texas native and former Nebraska bishop Monk Bryan has died at age 97, in Dallas.
United Methodist News Service has a feature obit.
Jim Winkler agreed to a Q&A with UMR about his recent protest arrest at the U.S. Capitol. He joined other religious leaders in demonstrating in the Rotunda, trying to make the point that Congress needs to protect the poor as it decides on federal budget cuts.
In the interview, Winkler addresses how he evaluates whether to participate in an act of civil disobedience, and who pays the legal costs.
Read the full interview here.
Jim Winkler, top executive of the UMC's General Board of Church and Society, was among 11 Christian and Jewish leaders arrested at the U.S. Capitol today for protesting how federal budget cuts would affect the poor.
The Hill newspaper reported that Winkler and the others held hands and sat down in the middle of the Capitol Rotunda area, and were arrested by Capitol Police for demonstrating within a U.S. Capitol Building. They were taken to Capitol Police headquarters for processing, the newspaper said.
Did you know one in every four women experiences domestic violence in her lifetime?
Nearly 75 percent of Americans personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence, and 30 percent of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her husband or boyfriend in the past year.
With these statistics, it’s inarguable that there are members in our congregations who are caught in the cycle of abuse and are looking and hoping for the church to act out against such violence.
The United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) is providing the resources needed to empower the victims of domestic violence and push the local church into conversation and action. Until March 1, local ABC-TV stations will be airing I Believe You: Faiths' Responses to Intimate Partner Violence, an hour-long documentary on domestic violence and how the faith community is responding.
The documentary was produced with the support of the New York Board of Rabbis, United Methodist Women, Presbyterian Women, the Evangelical Church in America, Odyssey Networks, the National Council of Churches and a consortium of Muslim organizations.
Small groups and Sunday school classes are encouraged to watch the documentary together, and GBSC’s new resource, Building the Movement through Film, explains the benefits of a public screening and provides discussion guidelines and ideas as to how churches can prevent domestic violence.
To find out when the program airs in your area, click here. (If you don't see your state or community listed, please contact your local ABC affiliate to encourage it to air the documentary.)
For more ideas and information about what United Methodists are doing to combat domestic violence, visit the United Methodist Women website.
This weekend’s shooting in Tucson, Ariz. has left the nation in quite a stir, questioning whether divisive politics have gone too far.
Six people, including a nine-year-old girl and Arizona's chief federal judge were killed Saturday and several seriously injured when a gunman targeted U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (pictured left) as she met with constituents outside a busy supermarket.
State officials, and church leaders alike, believe the shooting is a result of the political tensions in Arizona.
Ms. Giffords, who represents the Eighth District, in the southeastern corner of Arizona, has been an outspoken critic of the state’s tough immigration law and has been criticized for her vote in favor of the health care law.
She and Roll received threats over the years regarding the political decisions.
The United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church & Society condemns malicious political discourse and is calling for more responsible gun laws to prevent senseless violence in the future.
“The use of vicious language in political discourse, even metaphorically, only adds to a climate of fear and anger,” wrote Jim Winkler, GBCS general secretary, in a press release. “Such language prevents a coherent dialogue that leads to solutions for the problems that society faces.”
In a recent blog post Desert Southwest Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño referred to the shooting as “senseless” and offered prayers of healing for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and United Methodist, Pam Simon, who serves on Congresswoman Giffords' staff.
Bishop Carcaño wrote:
“For some time now many of us have been concerned about the uncivil tenor of life in this state, and pray that what has happened today is not an expression of a growing intolerance. Today we have certainly seen a blatant lack of respect for human life. Let us pray for healing for our sisters and brothers in Tucson, and for our state. May God be merciful and may we be agents of Christ's grace and love.”
St. Mark's UMC, located roughly 4 miles from the crime scene, held a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
In the latest battle of Christmas culture wars, First Baptist Church of Dallas is calling out businesses that aren't acknowledging Christmas in their store displays or greetings.
The Rev. Robert Jeffress, the church's pastor, announced Tuesday the launch of www.GrinchAlert.com, where people can post on a "naughty" list the names of businesses that refer only to “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.”
"Too many businesses have bowed down to political correctness," Dr. Jeffress told The Dallas Morning News. "I thought this would be a fun way to call out businesses that are refusing to celebrate Christmas."
The website has brought criticism from area religious leaders, including William Lawrence, dean of the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.
"The appropriate thing for Christians to do at this time of year is to find new and more effective ways to extend the love and peace of the season to others, not to insist that such enterprises as commercial businesses put up Christmas trees," Dr. Lawrence said.
What do you think?
Read Sam Hodges’ story in The Dallas Morning News.
The denomination’s General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) is urging United Methodists to join a national campaign to stop using the word “illegal” in the conversation on immigration reform.
GCORR endorses the “Drop the I-Word” public education campaign, launched by ColorLines.com and the Applied Research Center (ARC), a racial justice think, because it aligns with the denomination’s commitment to racial justice outlined in the Social Principles which states, “We affirm the rights of all immigrants...to freedom from social discrimination and to advocate for justice for all.” ¶162, the Book of Discipline, the United Methodist Church.
The goal is to get 10,000 United Methodists to pledge to ditch the i-word (short for “illegal alien” and “illegal immigrant”) and help their communities better understand and respond to the damaging and racist impact of such terms.
“GCORR is proud to endorse the “Drop the I-Word” campaign because it is a tangible way to engage the United Methodist Church in moving from racism to relationships” said Erin M. Hawkins, GCORR General Secretary. “Immigration has proven to be a divisive issue across the country and even within our churches.
“Proverbs 18:21 says that words can kill or words can give life. Who better than people of faith, to help lead a movement that believes we should communicate in ways that reflect God's love for humanity.”
To take the “Drop the I-Word” pledge and find resources to help your church start a new conversation without using the i-word click here.
It's time we give you a little taste of the behind-the-scenes hustle and bustle of the 13th presidential library groundbreaking.
Managing editor Robin Russell spoke with James Glassman, executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, Tuesday, Nov.16 before Mr. Bush and a posse of advisors, architects and companions broke ground for the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the SMU campus.
Hear what Mr. Glassman has to say to UMR readers:
Stay tuned for more original coverage of the groundbreaking! We have more interviews, photos, video clips and a cover story coming your way in the Dec. 3 issue of the United Methodist Reporter.
Hundreds of people waited in a line for hours this morning at a North Dallas bookstore to meet former President George W. Bush and have him sign copies of his newly released memoir Decision Points (Crown Publishing), which hit bookstores today.
Mr. Bush, 64, launched a media blitz this week to promote the book, after nearly two years of silent retirement in North Dallas. The booksigning was held a week before the groundbreaking for the Bush presidential library center at SMU.
The memoir recounts critical moments of Mr. Bush’s presidency, including his ordering the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the administration’s much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina.
Bush supporters waited outside the Borders bookstore in a long line that snaked around and behind the entire North Dallas shopping plaza. The booksigning also drew a handful of people who were protesting the Bush administration policies.
Linda Foley of Fort Worth criticized Mr. Bush’s acknowledgement in his book of approving waterboarding as an interrogation technique. Ms. Foley said she is affiliated with Code Pink, a grassroots peace movement of women working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“That’s a real slippery slope,” she said. “We know a lot of terrible things happened at Abu Ghraib. I think this book will include a lot of self-aggrandizement.”
Protesters at a busy intersection near the bookstore held posters that read “Torture is illegal!” and “No one is above the law.” Among them were a United Church of Christ minister and members of the Dallas Peace Center, Veterans for Peace and Military Families for Peace.
Drivers passing by often honked long and loud at the protesters, some offering a “single-finger salute,” Ms. Foley said. Mr. Bush has been generally well-received in his Preston Hollow neighborhood and throughout the city since he left the White House.
“I think it’s despicable,” said David Hearn of Fort Worth, watching the protest while standing in line. “Our president served our country nobly for eight years. He had to make tough decisions in tough times.”
Mr. Hearn said he arrived at Borders to get in line at 4:30 a.m. Reading a protest sign that proclaimed “Arrest Bush,” he said, “That’s below low.”
Nicole Marion, 25, a United Methodist from Dallas, emerged from Borders about 9:30 a.m. with hew newly signed copy of Decision Points.
“I think he was a strong president who never wavered in his beliefs,” she said. “We love Bush.”
Hello, November and hello, election season. It’s that wonderful (note the sarcasm) time of year when politicians forfeit integrity, class and a hefty chunk of cash to bash their opponents.
Sure, it’s easy to point fingers and get swept up in the competitive nature of our society, but as Christians, what are we called to do?
“It seems the default formula for successful political ads is the negative attack against the opponent rather than the recounting of positive intentions of the candidate paying for the commercial,” writes Bishop Robert Schnase in a recent blog post.
He then goes on to ask the obvious question as to why today’s political ads have become so vicious and distorted. His answer: those ads work. (What a sick reality!)
“Those of us who receive these ads are willing to avoid the hard work of learning about the tough and complex issues of our time. We are happy to nod or shake our head based on a 30-second contrived presentation rather than delve deeper, to think beyond our own self-interest to the good of the nation and world,” he writes. “We’re willing to be seduced and deceived by oversimplification, to be animated and motivated by animosity and accusation.”
Bishop Schnase’s blog, rooted in Philippians 4:8, calls Christians to step up to the plate and to seek what is honorable, pleasing and commendable—both as politicians and voting citizens.
What's your take on "the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival?"
This month is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society(GBCS) has developed a one-day seminar on domestic violence for local churches and/or annual conferences.
The GBCS names domestic violence as a priority issue of the church and encourages churches to become more proactive in recognizing, preventing and ending the abuse.
Some statistics:
*One in three women will experience some level of violence in their lives-half of them from intimate partners.
*Three in ten women murdered in the U.S. are murdered by their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends.
*A survey of 6,000 American families found that half of the men who assault their wives also abuse their children.
*Each year an estimated 3,300,000 children are exposed to violence against their mothers or female caretakers by family members.
*According to a recent report from UNICEF, nearly 275 million children worldwide witness abuse in their everyday life, which has a negative impact on their psychology.
To learn more about domestic violence--the types of abuse, how to recognize warning signs and to get ideas as to how you can create awareness in your community, click here.
In an era when “news analysis has become a bloodsport,” public intellectuals have a role in helping to nurture rational discourse, says Robert Hunt, director of global theological education for Perkins School of Theology, SMU.
Dr. Hunt, a frequently sought-after speaker on world religions, interfaith dialogue, Islam and mission studies, spoke Thursday to a Dallas chapter of the Religion Communicators Council.
Needless to say, his e-mail inbox has been full of media queries lately about Quran burnings and Islamic Centers near Ground Zero—not to mention a Dallas Baptist pastor’s recent comments from the pulpit that Islam is an evil religion that promotes pedaphilia.
Dr. Hunt gave us a quick outline of how academic experts can and should respond in a time when “the most marginalized voice in public discourse today is facts.”
“Our role is to say over and over: ‘These are the facts. This is reality,’ Dr. Hunt said. “Everybody’s got an opinion and 9/10ths of it is based on nothing.”
Like an amusement park’s hall of mirrors, any facts that might have existed are stripped away endlessly with each posting on social media platforms, he said.
Public intellectuals can help sift through the rubble if they “challenge false and misleading arguments and model rational discourse.”
“The single worst thing that’s happened today,” he said, “is that the accumulation of anecdotes counts as an argument.”
In other words, no matter how many examples of bad behavior someone can find, it doesn’t mean a religion promotes such behavior. And it’s not hard to find the facts about a particular faith’s doctrines, he added.
But scholar-experts should choose credible venues for disseminating their factual information -- the Letter to the Editor section of a newspaper, for example, is full of “cranks” and is not a place for rational discourse.
Pithy sound bytes help, as lengthy comments will be edited – and sometimes out of context. Long, nuanced explanations won’t cut it. Dr. Hunt recalled filming 30 minutes of a television interview that was trimmed into a 90-second segment.
“Until we learn to speak in short, clear, factual statements, we are worthless in the new media.”
More tips from Dr. Hunt:
Speak to reporters on deadline (to which I silently mouthed “Thank you!”) or you're of no use.
Know your “enemy,” so you can respond to the misleading material out there.
Stay current. If you’re blogging on current issues, you need to be posting daily so you don't get bumped off the first page of a Google search.
Don’t pretend to be an expert when you’re not. Be willing to say, “That’s not my field of expertise.”
And don’t be afraid to make use of that hall of mirrors yourself. Be consistent in what you say across interviews, blogs, Facebook posts, etc. “Connect the networks yourselves.”
Wise words indeed, in a time when knowledge is so fragmented, emotions are so easily riled and “discourse” is so uncivil.
Nine African-American clergy and scholars support end to UMC ban on gay ordination
Nine African-American scholars and clergy from the United Methodist Church have today released a statement in support of the 36 UMC retired bishops who called on an end to the denomination's ban on ordaining "self-avowed practicing homosexuals."
The statement concludes: "We urgently appeal to other racial/ethic caucuses, as well as other caucuses, and individuals representative of the rich diversity of the United Methodist Church to join us in our support to end this discrimination."
The Rev. Pamela Lightsey, associate vice president of student affairs for Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, said more scholars and clergy will be signing. Here's the statement, followed by a list of the signatories, including Dr. Lightsey:
An Endorsement Against Church Bigotry and The Injustice of ¶ 304.3
On January 31, 2011 thirty-six retired bishops of the United Methodist Church released A Statement of Counsel to the Church calling for the removal of ¶ 304.3 from The Book of Discipline (2008). Their statement is particularly directed at this paragraph because it serves as part of current UMC polity that prohibits ordination, certification as candidates, or appointments to serve in ministry of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”
On February 25, 2011 at its 44th Annual Meeting, Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR) voted to endorse our retired bishops’ statement.
As committed citizens of God’s beloved kingdom, we, the undersigned Black clergy and scholars of the United Methodist Church also endorse the bishops’ statement and applaud the action taken by our colleagues of BMCR. The action is an expression of the original intent of BMCR to be a renewing agent within and beyond the United Methodist Church, not just on matters of race, but on justice issues beyond race. The current critical discussion within our church on matters related to sexual identity is the issue beyond race that BMCR should, and is now addressing in a manner consistent with its historic advocacy for civil rights in the midst of unrestrained horrific discrimination.
As Black people we are uncomfortably familiar with discrimination. We have borne the weight of building up our nation and our United Methodist Church even under the harsh strokes of racism justified by theological convictions and human arrogance. Imperfect humans draped in an august array of Christian doctrines uttering an allegiance to “scriptural authority” and “natural law” are not new scenes on the landscape of Church history. Amazingly we who oppose such bigotry find ourselves in a strange and disturbing place: too many fellow progeny of Black slaves have now joined ranks with those who spew bigotry and, to our dismay, are wielding doctrine and scripture as their tools just as was done during slavery and the Jim Crow era. As before, segments within our church polity are the bulwark of this discriminatory logic.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made this prophetic comment about the church in his 1965 eulogy of civil rights activist, Rev. James Reeb: “He was murdered by the irrelevancy of a church that will stand amid social evil and serve as a taillight rather than a headlight, an echo rather than a voice.” As persons of African descent, we have seen the Church be a taillight regarding colonialism, slavery, segregation, and the rights of women. Since 1972, in its language and legislation the UMC has been a taillight on the rights of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) persons in our denomination and to the world.
Now, forty-six years later, facing the civil rights issue of this epoch, rather than silence, we Black clergy, leaders and scholars with bold voice and through this document say, “No more!” Too many are being murdered. Too many are being bullied. Too many have committed suicide.
Sadly, the season in which the United Methodist Church might have been a headlight for justice in the affirmation of the God-given rights of same gender loving persons has passed. Actions of secular courts and legislatures as they have responded to the equality provisions of our Constitution have affirmed the human and civil rights of same gender loving persons in ways our denomination has not. We trust that the delegates to the 2012 General Conference will rescind language and legislation that denies those rights.
Howard Thurman in “Jesus and the Disinherited,” described God as very present with those who are relegated to places outside the gate. BMCR embraced this belief in their support of the statement by our retired Bishops. We join them because we know that the Jesus who is "the center of our joy," is also the Jesus who has stood with Black Methodists both within society and Methodism, as we challenged those who restrict and restrain us. We will not stand on the sidelines as our church through its legislation denies LGBTQ persons, access to ordination as United Methodist clergy.
We therefore emphatically support the right to ordination of LGBTQ persons. We urgently appeal to other racial/ethic caucuses, as well as other caucuses, and individuals representative of the rich diversity of the United Methodist Church to join us in our support to end this discrimination.
African American Scholars and Clergy of The United Methodist Church
Rev. Pamela R. Lightsey, PhD
Northern Illinois Annual Conference
Assoc. VP of Student Affairs
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Evanston, Illinois
Rev. Traci C. West, PhD
New York Annual Conference
Professor of Ethics and African American Studies
Drew Theological School
Madison, New Jersey
Rev. Donald Francis Guest
Pastor, Glide Memorial United Methodist Church
San Francisco, California
Rev. Linda E. Thomas, PhD
New York Annual Conference
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
Professor of Theology and Anthropology
Chicago, Illinois
Rev. Cheryl B. Anderson, PhD
Baltimore-Washington Conference
Associate Professor of Old Testament
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Evanston, Illinois
Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell
Rocky Mountain Annual Conference
Retired Clergy
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Rev. Phil Lawson
California-Nevada Annual Conference
Retired Elder
San Francisco, California
Rev. Theodore L. Lockhart
New England Annual Conference
Retired Clergy
St. Petersburg, Florida
Rev. Gennifer Benjamin Brooks, PhD
New York Annual Conference
Associate Professor of Homiletics
Styberg Preaching Institute Director
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Evanston, Illinois