The delegates voted for moderates and liberals for the Judicial Council. By some counts, there may be one conservative left on the Council. The president, Dr. James Holsinger was not nominated by the Council of Bishops nor from the floor. I presume he refused nomination because of being a nominee to the Bush Cabinet. He recused himself from last October's Judicial Council's meeting for that reason. However, he did not recuse himself for the Judicial Council's session here at GC.
It appears that even among the alternates, people who would be called up to the Council if members were unable to attend the twice-a-year meetings, there are few of the nominees pushed by the conservative coalition very high on the list. One clergy and two laity from that camp became alternates among the ten selected. They were not among the first two lay or clergy alternates, so they will probably not be involved in future Council activities.
All in all, though, it appears the conservatives are not as strong this time as they have been in previous GCs.
There are several reasons given.
One, the conservatives on the Council "protected" a pastor from prosecution in his conference because he allegedly kept a practicing homosexual from joining the church (see Judicial Council Decisions 1031 and 1032). That made the Council of Bishops furious because they backed the right of the bishop to tell the pastor what to do! The liberals were upset because the allegation bothered them deeply!
Two, the large number of young people elected to GC from all over the world seem to be less concerned about sexual orientation than their elders.
Three, the spirit of Methodism which is far less interested in creeds and hard-line use of Scriptures is asserting itself.
Four, the conservatives have overplayed their hand with their arrogance in office and in tone, just like the conservatives in Congress, and the moderates are swinging back to the left.
As goes the United Methodist Church, so goes the nation . . . or is it the other way around?
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