RECONSIDERATION OF JCM 1213
A request for reconsideration of JCM 1213 was denied. JCM 1213 was about funding for
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice by the General Board of Church and
Society and the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global
Ministries. Because the North
Alabama Annual Conference had taken no specific action related to that funding,
the original request was not covered under church law as appropriate for them
to raise. So the Council pointed
out it had no jurisdiction (authority) to take up the request.
This is one of those legal technicalities that frustrates
people. I would love to see what
arguments were made by those seeking reconsideration. What grounds did they feel they as an annual conference had
to challenge an action of the General Conference or of General Conference
agencies?
Usually when the Council refuses reconsideration, they do
not offer any rationale for their decision. They offered none here so we learn nothing about their
reasoning. Maybe there is nothing
exceptional or new that the Council feels worth sharing about their decision
not to reconsider.
In this case, it seems clear that the conservative faction
of the North Alabama Conference wanted to express its (political?
conscientious?) position on RCRR and see if it could affect the funding. With no rationale by the Council, the
decision will appear either arbitrary at best or part of the “liberal
conspiracy” to allow abortion on demand.
The resulting misunderstanding will further alienate the conservatives
and play into their theory of what is “going on.”
The Council might be wise to make it a practice to explain
their position in future cases. It
won’t affect the “true believers” but it would help everybody else.
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