Aspirin to Vitamins

As the 1,000 delegates to the United Methodist General Conference took their seats one morning last month, each found on his table a packet of vitamin capsules. The vitamins were provided by the denomination’s General Board of Health and Welfare Ministries and the Upjohn Company with a note wishing good health. Two years ago the board distributed a substance designed to quiet the stomachs of General Conference delegates. Four years ago it handed out aspirin.

Evangelicals think a switch from symptom treatment to preventive medicine is just what the ailing church needs also. But the symbolism was seldom borne out at the historic two-week meeting in the gigantic exhibition hall of Atlanta’s Civic Center.

Here and there a hopeful sign did appear. The United Methodist Program Council cited the “rediscovery of the importance of individual Christian service” as the theme of a major report, “Planning for Ministries—1973 and Beyond.” In developing priorities (the first of which is listed as “commitment, renewal, and nurture”), the report repeatedly urges Bible study as a prerequisite. The 64-page document was composed after extensive surveys of grass-roots opinion and leaves wide latitude for local program determinations.Interestingly, however, the Program Council, which drafted the report, is being legislated out of existence in favor of a powerful new Council on Ministries.

The Methodist Publishing House, long under fire from theological conservatives, has announced plans for a new “Bible Series” of curriculum resources beginning in September, 1973.

Evangelicals also welcomed Bishop F. Gerald Ensley’s acknowledgment of a crisis of faith in his episcopal address. Ensley noted that “probably not for centuries has the witness of Christian people on ultimate questions been so hesitant and uncertain.”

Delegates listened to a long presentation of the Board of Evangelism’s wholehearted participation in Key 73. Dr. George H. Outen, a board executive, quoted Christ’s words that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.” Outen then observed, “We need persons and institutions who have been converted, changed to the degree that they seek to follow the will of God and are amenable to the regenerate power of the Holy Spirit. We must have this. So, every local church in United Methodism is called upon to be a redemptive center.”

Dr. Robert F. Lundy, executive secretary of the Southeastern Jurisdiction, said implementation of Key 73 plans includes a move toward establishing a chair of evangelism at Emory University “so that we can actually influence the training and preparation of the new generation of seminarians who will be our pastors and leaders in this last one-third of the present century.” Lundy did not mention the irony, but it was a fact hardly lost on the delegates that Emory was the base from which Thomas J. J. Altizer propelled the “God-is-dead” fad several years ago.

Presentation of the Key 73 report touched off a short-lived controversy when Dr. Richard Pittenger of Huron, South Dakota, used the occasion to accuse Billy Graham of “radical indifference to burning human need.” Pittenger cited statements in which Graham belittled federal rat-control legislation. Graham then told reporters at his North Carolina home that he had publicly retracted the statements because they were being given meanings he did not intend. Delegates voted down a motion to strike Pittenger’s remarks from the record, but after hearing a telegram from Graham they agreed to send him greetings. Pittenger made another floor statement acknowledging Graham’s retraction.

United Methodism’s best-known evangelist. Oral Roberts, did not figure in the flap, nor did he get any recognition of his own during the conference. The only other personality controversy was over Cecil Williams of San Francisco. Because of his association with Angela Davis and his unorthodox views on sex, many objected to his being invited to preach.

A resurgence of evangelical vitality within United Methodism has been the aim of the Good News movement, and it has undoubtedly had a significant behind-the-scenes influence. But as Religious News Service reported, the Good News forces “were less in evidence at the General Conference than had been expected. Earlier assertions of considerable voting strength did not materialize during the sessions.” An assortment of other even more conservative groups also crusaded—one operated from a converted camping trailer parked across the street from the Civic Center—but had negligible effect.

Biblically oriented Methodists vow to apply ever-increasing pressure on the church establishment, but it may be many years before there is a General Conference as crucial as the one last month. Out of the meeting in Atlanta, the first ever held by the worldwide body in the deep South, there emerged a theological reformulation (see May 12 issue, page 40), a new social creed, and a sweeping restructure of the ecclesiastical machinery—which theologian Albert Outler warned will make the church “the most centralized and ‘curialized’ structure in Christendom bar none.”

The social creed generated the most debate, but despite strong resistance, especially from Southern delegates, it came out generally reflecting the ideological left. In an impassioned speech from the floor, a delegate from Virginia told the conference: “You are voting for, now, pure socialism, and if that’s what we want in this country, you folks go ahead, but I’m not with you and the public is not with you.”

The point in question at the time was a section on economics. Delegates voted down an amendment that would have deleted the following: “We support measures that would reduce the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. We further support efforts to revise tax structures and governmental support programs that now benefit the wealthy at the expense of other persons.”

Also defeated was an amendment deleting this passage: “We believe access to the use of property enhances both individual and social well being and is a moral right underlying the legal right to hold and use property for socially permissible purposes making efforts to insure that all property is put to its best use. We believe property rights exist to fulfill human needs, that human beings are stewards of property, never its absolute owners.”

A delegate from the West sought to silence critics, saying that “I, too, believe in property rights, but I wonder where all of you were when urban-renewal programs across this land were taking the property of the poor. And what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Also, we have laws of eminent domain, railroads have been taking property, municipalities have been taking property for years, so this whole argument in a sense is redundant.…”

Equally controversial was a section in the creed devoted to sex. Throughout the conference on virtually every issue the delegates rather consistently rejected amendments of substance that were introduced on the floor. One notable exception was the addition, at the suggestion of a delegate from the Philippines, of the sentence, “We do not recommend marriage between two persons of the same sex”—a motion approved by only a narrow margin. The passage did not originally pass judgment on the morality of homosexuality. Another amendment added the sentence, “We do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.” Sex between man and woman is said “only to be clearly affirmed in the marriage bond.”

A liberal view of abortion was incorporated into the creed, partly because of indirect pressure from the “Yellow Ribbon” women’s lib caucus, which complained that although women constitute 54 per cent of the membership of the United Methodist Church, only 13 per cent of the delegates were women. Dr. Louise Branscomb, an obstetrician and gynecologist from Alabama, succeeded in adding the statement, “We support the removal of abortion from the criminal code, tracing it instead under the law relating to other procedures of standard medical practices.”

No woman spoke against abortion.

The approved statement observes that “our belief in the sanctity of unborn human life makes us reluctant to approve abortion. But we are equally bound to respect the sacredness of the life and well-being of the mother, for whom devastating damage may result from an unacceptable pregnancy.… A decision concerning abortion should be made after thorough and thoughtful consideration by the parties involved, with medical and pastoral counsel.”

On the subject of military action, the Methodists asserted: “We believe war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. We therefore reject war as an instrument of national foreign policy and insist that the first moral duty of all nations is to resolve by peaceful means every dispute that arises between or among them …” Support is promised, however, persons who volunteer for the armed forces, as well as conscientious objectors. A right to general civil disobedience is also recognized.

A number of statements not part of the official and continuing “Statement of Social Principles” were adopted also. A dovish view on Viet Nam, passed by a 5 to 4 majority, prompted the fraternal Korean delegation to walk out. Delegates applauded the courageous stand of Rhodesian Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa, who said that white racists are encouraging the advance of Communism. A call was issued for repeal of the Byrd amendment, which makes possible the purchase of chrome ore from Rhodesia.

Not the least of the conference actions was an order that four remaining all-black conferences in the South be merged with predominantly white conferences by July 1, 1973. The General Conference has never before issued such an integration order.

Concordia Concordat

Dr. Arlis Ehlen, a Concordia Seminary professor whose higher-critical views of the Bible precipitated an uproar in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, will stop teaching a course on the Pentateuch. His schedule for the next academic year will include courses in exegesis and Semitic languages instead. But he says he will teach the same theological views. The change was worked out at a meeting between synod president J. A. O. Preus and seminary president John H. Tietjen.

Preus said the compromise was no real solution but was a “step in the right direction.” More than 1,000 LCMS pastors have signed a statement backing him and endorsing his theological “guidelines” sent to the seminary. Preus says he fears there may be a schism at next year’s annual meeting in which many unhappy conservatives will depart.

Evangelical Press Awards

Youth in Action, the Free Methodist publication for young people, was selected as “Periodical of the Year” at the twenty-fourth annual meeting of the Evangelical Press Association. More than 150 attended the three-day convention this month in Kansas City, Missouri.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY won the most first-place awards (Best Fiction, Best Humorous Article, Best Critical Review, Best News Story) and also snagged a second place (Best General Article).

Judges included many “name” personalities in their fields; Viola Blake of Decision served as contest chairman.

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.