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By Shaun Lane
UMConnection Staff

The Judicial Council, the denomination's highest court, released a ruling on Nov. 2 that said the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference went too far in adopting its own statement on homosexuality, which declared "a more authentic and truthful representation of The United Methodist Church." This phrase was part of a statement that was adopted at the Conference's 2009 Annual Conference Session.

Bishop John Schol ruled on a specific portion of the legislation, as requested by Rev. Charles Harrell of Trinity United Methodist Church in Prince Frederick. The Judicial Council expanded the request to include the phrase "a more authentic and truthful representation of The United Methodist Church."

The court said that while such statements can be "aspirational in nature," an annual conference "may not negate, ignore or violate" the Book of Discipline, "even when the disagreements are based upon conscientious objections."

"The effect of the Baltimore-Washington Conference resolution is to negate the church's clearly stated position as reflected in current disciplinary language," the council wrote. "Moreover, the Baltimore-Washington resolution attempts to articulate a new and different standard of church belief using language that has been specifically rejected by the General Conference." Harrell requested a ruling of law when the resolution was on the floor.

"I am gratified that the Judicial Council upheld a clear and consistent position of the United Methodist Church on a troublesome issue that has been before us for a long time," Harrell said. "The ruling reaffirms that while we may disagree and debate these issues, it is not up to any one Annual Conference to redirect the witness of the whole denomination by unilateral action."

Delegates to the 2008 General Conference rejected proposed changes to the United Methodist Social Principles that would have acknowledged that church members disagree on homosexuality and instead adopted a report retaining language that describes homosexual practice as "incompatible with Christian teaching."

Jen Ihlo, a member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and Baltimore-Washington Area Reconciling United Methodists (BWARM), reflected on the Judicial Council ruling and expressed optimism that the resolution, as edited by the Judicial Council, would be affirmed by the annual conference.

"BWARM is very happy that the Judicial Council made clear that a resolution may express disagreement with the current language of the Discipline and affirmed expressions of aspirational hopes by an Annual Conference," said Ihlo, who presented the resolution to the body at the 2009 Annual Conference Session. "I am disappointed, however, that they didn't understand that this was our intent in offering this resolution.

"I am also troubled by the negative reporting by the church regarding this resolution. The Judicial Council did not "void" the statement on sexuality; they took issue with only a few words - ‘a more authentic and truthful representation of The United Methodist Church' - that they appear to believe was an attempt to negate the Discipline. Now that the Judicial Council has helped us to perfect the language in the resolution, it is my hope that this resolution will be re-considered and passed again by the Annual Conference."

In previous decisions, the council had determined the statements of beliefs on sexuality from the Desert Southwest and Pacific Northwest conferences - and even an earlier Baltimore-Washington resolution calling for inclusive behavior in the acceptance of congregational members - were permissible because they did not negate, ignore or violate the Discipline.

Linda Bloom of the United Methodist News Service contributed to this article.