If approved, traditionalist branch would oppose gay marriage and gay clergy, and separate branch would allow both

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

Leaders of the United Methodist church – America’s second-largest Protestant denomination – have announced plans to split the church in two after years of division over same-sex marriage.

The plan, if approved at the church’s worldwide conference in Minneapolis in May, would divide the denomination into two branches: a traditionalist branch that opposes gay marriage and the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clergy, and a more tolerant branch that will allow same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ clergy.

The split would affect the denomination globally, church leaders said. The United Methodist church lists more than 13 million members in the United States and 80 million worldwide.

The US supreme court legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country in 2015, but that decision applies only to civil, not religious, services. Some denominations, including the Episcopal church and certain branches of Judaism, have sanctified same-sex unions, while others including the Roman Catholic church and Southern Baptist Convention, have declined to do so.

A council of Methodist bishops in Washington DC called Friday’s move the “best means to resolve our differences”.

The New York Conference Bishop Thomas Bickerton, part of the group that drafted the plan, said this was a way to reach an amicable separation.

“The protocol provides a pathway that acknowledges our differences, respects everyone in the process, and graciously allows us to continue to live out the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ,” he said.

Last year, delegates at a crucial United Methodist conference rejected a move to ease the faith’s ban on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy.

Some supporters of greater LGBTQ+ inclusion were in tears, while others vented their anger after delegates, on a 449-374 vote, defeated a proposal that would have let regional and local church bodies decide for themselves on gay-friendly policies.

“Devastation,” was how former Methodist pastor Rebecca Wilson of Detroit described her feelings at the time. “As someone who left because I’m gay, I’m waiting for the church I love to stop bringing more hate.”

• This article’s main image was changed on 6 January 2020 to better reflect the text.