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The cover of the May 1998 issue of Good News magazine, a renewal publication for United Methodists, showed the S.S. Titanic sinking in the icy Atlantic Ocean. The massive stern pointed upward while two lifeboats paddled away into the dark. The cover copy said: Will homosexuality sink the United Methodist Church? At the time, that question seemed like an improbable shock tactic.

But six years later in Pittsburgh, the improbable became possible for the 11-million-member global United Methodist Church—the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. "I believe the time has come when we must begin to explore an amicable and just separation that will free us both from our cycle of pain and conflict," said William Hinson, president of the 650,000-member Confessing Movement, on the ninth day of a 10-day gathering of United Methodist leaders in May.

Hinson's comment sent a shock wave through United Methodism. It was the first time since 1972 that an influential Methodist leader had called publicly for a breakup. (At that time, United Methodists officially declared homosexuality and the Bible were incompatible.)

Hinson, a retired pastor from Alabama, said he was speaking only for himself. But within hours his comments moved on The Associated Press wire, and what started as an early morning statement by a nonvoting observer to the General Conference brought the body seemingly to the brink of separation by early afternoon.

Church historians are well aware that unresolved disputes among Methodists have led to denominational fracture. The Methodist Episcopal Church, divided over slave ownership, split in 1844, some 17 years before the Civil War. Ninety-five years later in 1939, three Methodist groups reunited. Later in 1968, the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church combined to form the United Methodist Church.

In the months leading up to the General Conference, the left-right rift over homosexuality among United Methodists grew wider. The March acquittal of openly gay pastor Karen Dammann was a major contributing factor. A church jury in Washington State acquitted the 47-year-old pastor on charges that she was in violation of the denomination's laws regarding homosexual practice.

The jury said the Methodist Book of Discipline was unclear in stating, "Homosexual practice is incompatible with church teaching." The jury doubted whether those words were intended to be a formal declaration of the church and should be regarded as church law. Pro-gay Methodists hailed the verdict as a victory for gay rights. Evangelicals across the country were angered and without recourse since according to church law an acquittal is not subject to appeal.

But in its review of the case, the Judicial Council, the denomination's top court, made two rulings that cheered conservatives. The council ruled that the Book of Discipline ban on homosexual practice is church law, though they said they had no right to overturn the jury's verdict. They also clearly stated that no Methodist bishop may appoint anyone who has been found by a church jury to be a "self-avowed, practicing homosexual." Dammann has been on family leave from pastoral ministry since March. In mid-May she renewed her leave of absence, so she will not return to church ministry in the short term.

Conservatives gained further ground when the General Conference voted to include in the Book of Discipline the wording: "The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality."

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July 2004, Vol. 48, No. 7