Bishop Mark Webb
Upper New York Annual Conference
324 University Ave. 3rd Floor
Syracuse, NY 13210
Dear Bishop Webb,
We stand with Steve Heiss in
his willingness to officiate at same sex marriages as a United Methodist
Pastor. We belong to First United
Methodist Church, Oneonta, New York that is a member of the Reconciling
Ministries Network. We have signed a
covenant in First UMC Oneonta that we will permit same sex marriages. We believe it is the right and Christian thing
to do. We cannot stand by and have the
United Methodist Church tell its pastors that it is against the Discipline when
it is the Christ-like thing to do.
We have gay and lesbian people
who attend our worship. Some are
members. But the United Methodist Church
is treating them as second class citizens.
And furthermore, when it comes to marriage, the Church is treating them
as non-citizens of the State of New York where they can legally marry, but not
by a United Methodist Pastor or in a United Methodist Church.
We find the United Methodist
Church on the wrong side of faith and of history.
The statements in the
Discipline find their source in a spiritually-violent theology that teaches
that homosexuality is an abomination and LGBT people sinners all the while
telling them that we have “Open Minds, Open Hearts and Open Doors”. That is a bold-faced lie. The United Methodist Church says to the LGBT
folk that their families and their participation in the UMC is second class and
should remain there.
I have seen first-hand the
terrible cruelty that homophobia does to kids.
I have seen kids take their own lives because of the stand of the church
they attend. Just the fact that the
United Methodist Church will not marry nor ordain homosexual people tells kids
that something is wrong with those who are homosexuals. It also gives permission to others to do harm
to them because there is something “wrong” with them. I have studied and taught about the
Holocaust. I have seen what happens
when people are told they don’t fit into the mainstream. It is a short step to permitting harm to
come to these persons. The Nazis lumped
homosexuals, the Roma, the Jews, the Slavs, the blacks and others as
“Untermensch” or subhuman. This can no
longer be permitted in the United Methodist Church. You, Bishop Webb, need to have the conviction
to do as the bishops of the Western Jurisdiction have done and declare the policy
of the United Methodist Church morally wrong and not worth upholding.
We are United Methodists and we
are members in this conference. May
your institutional heart be changed to one of warmth of all God’s children, for
all does mean all.
As a couple we support all in
the church, and I (Dick) as a retired United Methodist pastor have officiated
at a same sex wedding and will do so in the future.
Sincerely,
Richard A. Breuninger Mary
L. Breuninger
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