Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 47] 21 Jan 2021 Wesley Theological Seminary ethicist J. Philip Wogaman editorialized in 1972 for liberalized abortion laws. "The absolutizing of the rights of the fetus in the early stages of pregnancy can contribute…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 46] 14 Jan 2021 This week you will be exposed to explanations that must be oh so pleasing to Satan but the heartbreak is that they come from church leadership. Shall we get started?…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 45] 7 Jan 2021 As we ended last week, President Roosevelt was addressing the 1908 General Conference in regards to birth control. To further his commentary..."No human being has a greater title to respect…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 44] 31 Dec 2020 Next we will get into a subject that has had as major impact on our society almost as had co-habitation. It is a subject that traces back to biblical times…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 43] 24 Dec 2020 This week we will continue to take a look at what UMC church policy will permit leadership and membership to do within the precepts of church policy. I reiterate that…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 42] 17 Dec 2020 We will continue with a search for a UMC policy that discredits the church's involvement in politics. Thus far, it has not been found. Does the General Board…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 41] 10 Dec 2020 For the next couple of weeks we will go a bit off course in discussing the church's involvement with politics. I had been told by a local minister that politics…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 40] 3 Dec 2020 Final peace terms between the US and North Vietnam were concluded in early 1973 after the US 1972 "Christmas" bombing that so outraged many church officials. But the war in…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 39] 26 Nov 2020 The full Council of Bishops met for three days at the United Methodist Church Center for the United Nations in 1971 to discuss how the church could help make the…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 38] 20 Nov 2020 In 1969, the World Division of the Board of Global Ministries became the first church agency to directly condemn the war, explaining that if government policies serve death over life,…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 37] 12 Nov 202013 Nov 2020 In a less controversial setting, Vice President Hubert Humphrey spoke at a testimonial dinner for Indiana Bishop Richard Raines in 1967 at DePauw University. "Almost persuadest thou me…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 35] 29 Oct 2020 In 1965, after President Lyndon Johnson's reelection, the US roles in Vietnam escalated. Four officials from the Board of Christian Social Concerns, including two bishops and board chief Dudley Ward,…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 34] 22 Oct 2020 Today many pastors...church leaders... find comfort in avoiding politics thus not 'offending' anyone. However, politics is not about to let the church off that easy. The church must be willing…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 33] 15 Oct 202016 Oct 2020 It was only a matter of time before the Methodist Church would move beyond the political turmoil of racial politics and into the realm of societal politics...national and worldwide. In…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 32] 8 Oct 2020 Even with the forward progress the Methodist Church had made in race relations, all was not yet well. Some black demonstrators protested at the 1968 General Conference in Dallas for…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 31] 2 Oct 2020 The 1963 Methodist Human Relations Conference was attended by 1,100 Methodists and featured activist James Meredith, comedian and activist Dick Gregory, and Martin Luther King Jr. It also sent a…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 30] 24 Sep 2020 The 1958 Council of Bishops were especially "disturbed by a growing disregard of law evidenced by the bombing of synagogues, churches, schools, and even private dwellings." They urged…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 29] 17 Sep 2020 Despite continued Methodist church segregation in the form of the Central Jurisdiction, Methodist bodies continued to denounce societal segregation. This is a form of hypocrisy...accepting segregation in the church but…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 28] 10 Sep 2020 The politics of segregation wasn't coming from outside the church but from within the church. Methodists were finding fault with each other. For example, in 1955 a white West Virginia…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 27] 3 Sep 2020 As I write about the hypocrisy of racism in the Methodist Church...or any church on the account...I am still amazed that it was or is even a controversy. How any…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 26] 27 Aug 2020 One of Methodism's first black bishops was Robert Jones, who was elected in 1920, and who spoke on human equality at Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta in 1951. "There is…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church- The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 25] 20 Aug 2020 In 1948 the Methodist Church was still dealing with the question of racism and segregation within the church. In that year 10,000 young people, including 500 "Negro" delegates, gathered at…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church – [Part 24] 13 Aug 2020 After World War II, Methodism struggled with racial relations and segregation, both within the church and within America. The 1939 reunification of the northern and southern churches had created a…
Politics and the Church Politics and the Church – The Hypocrisy of Politics in the Church [Part 23] 6 Aug 2020 In 1959, a Chicago Methodist minister mocked Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's claims to be a "champion of peace" as an "ironic and ludicrous spectacle." (Imagine an icon of liberalism being…