Skip to main content

There is Method(ism) in their madness

Stripped image of John WesleyImage via Wikipedia
I don't know about you but I used to have an impression that the Methodist church in the UK was a denomination typified by being very, very nice people. The sort who wouldn't say boo to a goose yet would give you their last penny to the homeless if needed. In fact a church that I would have passed over if looking for a bit more get up and go, so to say. Looking a bit closer into their workings and teachings I see a much deeper Christian church which is highly concerned with the social gospel and a church that does speak and act louder than maybe their numbers would suggest. A church hidden from my view by my own ignorance I would suggest.

So I'm surprised to see signs of discord within the Methodist church over a resolution adopted by conference regarding the issue of the Occupied Territories and Illegal Settlements.

You can read the resolution over at the Connexions blog by Richard Hall, a Methodist minister. The resolution is hardly inflammatory stuff and concerns itself with goods emanating from illegal settlements.

But this resolution, adopted in a democratic style by the Methodist conference has rather annoyed one Methodist Preacher, David Hallam who is seeking to sue his own church for racism, anti-semitism and a breach of human rights. Although his initial blog post fails to mention that it is he who seeks to mount the legal challenge for some reason.

I have to say though that I'm mystified as to why and how David Hallam is seeking to involve the justice system. I can't for the life of me see any basis for a legal challenge. He is quoted in the Telegraph as saying:

What I object to is money which I am putting on the collection plate on a Sunday being used to fund a political campaign against the Jewish state. This is both discriminatory and a misuse of a charity's funds. The Methodist Church seems to think it has a God given right to tell Jews how to run their affairs. It is very disturbing we are getting involved in a territory where we don't have any members or churches.

I really cannot understand why he hasn't made full use of the Methodist church's internal grievance system, or at the end of the day accept that his church has made this resolution according to it's procedures and get over it!

Richard Hall is blogging about it here and elsewhere on his Connexions blog and is gathering quite a lot of responses.

It will be interesting to see where this goes, but God willing I hope it comes to a just and amicable end sooner rather than later. Things like this have a habit of turning nasty and unedifying.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Methodist Preacher11 October 2010 at 23:42

    Thanks for mentionig this case. My advice is that you don't simply look at the resolution but read in detail the report which led to resolution:

    http://www.methodistconference.org.uk/assets/downloads/confrep-14-justice-for-palestine-israel-170510.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris Hall14 October 2010 at 02:02

    Thanks for the link David, appreciated. Some interesting lunchtime reading at 54 pages.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Spammers, trolls and blatantly offensive posts will be summarily deleted. My blog, my rules. Otherwise comment away!

Popular posts from this blog

Sound familiar?

Watching the BBC interview of Adele by Graham Norton tonight and Adele sang one of the new tracks off her forthcoming album. The track was called A Million Years Ago. Listening to it reminded me of a different song by someone else. You know where you almost recognise a tune but get lost with the words, yet it's the words which are the key! Eventually it came to me, El Shaddai by Michael Card, famously sung by Amy Grant. It's a song that I occasionally play during worship. Have a listen. What do you think?
Post a Comment
Read more

The Upper Rooms

We often think of the 'upper room' as being the place where Jesus and the Disciples held the Last Supper but the Bible has many more 'upper rooms'.
Post a Comment
Read more

The Archbishop and Wonga

Image via CrunchBase Have to say I was initially chuffed to see the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby laying down a challenge to Wonga and others of their ilk. The AoC communicated that he wanted to see the payday loan industry driven out of business by promoting the use of credit unions. The payday loan industry is involved in outright usury which is condemned by many faiths such as Islam and Christianity and others. Usury we can look upon as the lending of money at exorbitant rates of interest. But then I thought what was the AoC actually saying? He wanted to replace excessive usury with not so excessive usury. Is that what we should be aiming for? Plus the architects of our current austerity are backing the AoC! I would love to see all of the credit industry driven out of business but it will only be done by paying workers a decent wage, sharing in the profit of their labour and making capitalism history. At the end of the day this sort of initiative is just a...
3 comments
Read more