Pughtown, Pa.
The United Methodist Church last week defrocked a Pennsylvania minister for being a “self-avowed” lesbian. Beth Stroud, 34, told her congregation last year that her “walk with Christ” compelled her to tell the truth about her committed lesbian relationship, “whatever price truthfulness requires.” A church rule bars practicing homosexuals from the ministry, but no one had been expelled over the issue since 1987. Methodist leaders promised a crackdown after a March trial cleared a lesbian minister in Washington. A conservative church leader called Stroud’s conviction “a very positive declaration that church law will be upheld.” But Stroud said it changed nothing. “God is still going to call qualified gay and lesbian people into ministry,” she said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meatThe Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human bloodUnder the radar Drugging the bugs
