Syncretised Religious structures will always fracture as they are based upon egoic expectations that the ‘new’ way is the true way.

Internal challenge of any regime is the death knell and heralds internal chaos and transformation, much like every dynamic system, but in human systems it helps to prevent tyrannical forces taking hold.

I always wonder if these kinds of homophobic parents would be so horrified if their kids turned out to be gay.

It was bad enough, I turn out to be an artist, from my mother side of things. Being gay, is hard on the social scale of things.

Yes, it's a great sign! Over half of Methodist churches are standing up to hate.

In Wenatchee, WA where I live, the United Methodist Church supports gay marriage and gay clergy, and provides shelter, food and services for homeless, undocumented immigrants. Hooray!

"The historic schism would divide the third-largest religious denomination in the United States.

"Leaders of the church announced Friday they had agreed to spin off a “traditionalist Methodist” denomination, which would continue to oppose same-sex marriage and to refuse ordination to LGBT clergy, while allowing the remaining portion of the United Methodist Church to permit same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy for the first time in its history."

Are Baptists having the same problem? If they aren't that would be interesting to me. What about the Mormons? The Jewish and other religions?

Those reasons are why organized religion is falling apart and not attracting younger individuals!

It has lost it sense of Christian community as those who understand what Jesus was supposed to be and what they actually do in his name has become mute and condescending to those that have attended and once believed!!!

Too many church leaders like our politicians are more concerned with money and power than those who actually support them and believe in them!!!

I was joking about gays one day, and one christain guy showed me a video of gays to straight church conversation. I told him I'm straight, he still didn't believe me. I told him those gay conversation are 98% failures and if I was born a gay, no God gene would ever work, in fact it would do more harm. It's need use, changing a twisted mind set of the religious

In the end it will have to be a good sign if anyone involved in this is honest with themselves. Their honesty itself will point them to the truth. The opposite would be to put blame on culture changes in the world for the demise of your church. Some people may be that dumb but how could their god be that dumb?

I recall being in a Pentecostal church when a man got up to testify and he says "I was just back here in the corner talking to the Lord and he told me this and so." I was a believer then and we all thought this was normal. I was even proud when Reagan invited the religious into the GOP. The truth of the matter is that there is no invisible man to talk to. If this was not considered to be religion (and therefore sacred) somebody would be locking these people up. The big problem is that many of them are running the government today. Anyone recall when Michelle Bachmann made statement that Obama was :bringing on the Apocalypse? The truth is that these people are more than happy to help bring on the Apocalypse. Now that is really scary!

I told this story because many Methodist churches are similar to Pentecostal churches. Recall that Oral Roberts found a need to switch from one to the other and became Methodist. I have always thought this move had a lot to do with his University. Who would want a place of higher learning where people are talking in tongues.

The methodist church was where my mother took us. That church is about ten blocks from where I live now. It was a smaller congregation that is no more. The building is still there. It's now some sort of outreach for the poor.

A few years back a church secretary embezzled all their money. Effectively killing the church. They eventually chose to disband. The church had been there over a hundred years.

As with other churches, they ALL pick which moral stances
will further thier political intrests. You are right - it is shamefull ,that they choose half truths and spin partial facts to fulfill thier "hateful" agenda.
I could no longer abide the hypocrisy of my birth religion-
when humanitarian issues that needed ATTENTION were
shunted aside( or swept under the rug) in favor of more
cosmopolitan and lucrative items.Being popular does not
always equate with doing the right thing.
Thanks!

I was taken to the Methodist Church as a kid. The choice was either moms faith or dads (he was a recovering Catholic) and it was my dad who said to go with moms faith. Since I was not sucked in by the Methodists I am sure the Catholic brand would have turned me off even more - I had friends who tried explain catechism and confessional .
How or why my twin sister bought into it is a huge mystery to me.
As far as I am concerned the hate and division religion and politics feed off of is evil.

It is curious how different Christian denominations pick and choose which parts of the bible they decide to follow and which they do not.

I too grew up UM (EUB before the merger) and was even a pre-ministerial student at LVC for a short while. The homophobia was largely hidden but was there in some of their rules. All in all I see the present split as a good thing and suspect a majority of the churches will break away.