Methodist possibly splitting up over LGTB

[2bizE]

This article was in the salt lake tribune.
The United Methodist church is at their world conference. A majority appears to be voting to not fully include LGBT folks. Some say this will lead to the church splitting apart.
Of note, the 800 delegates at the conference got to vote. Wouldn’t that be something if all Mormons really got to vote?
Anyway, what are your thoughts?
Do you ever see the Mormon church splitting like this somehow?

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/02 ... st-church/

[dogbite]

not in a structured way like that. I see it more likely as a leadership schism with a charismatic popular apostle making a liberalized move against the entrenched conservative senior apostle ascendency.

[dbmormon]

High demand fundamentalist religions don’t split

[Not Buying It]

I don't see it ever causing a split in the LDS Church, just a steady loss of members over it. I mean, there are historical precedents for breakaway groups from the Church over major issues, such as the succession crisis (which wasn't the neat and tidy transition we were all taught about in Sunday School) and the Manifestos. But I think most members today who would leave the Church over treatment of LGTB individuals are more likely to say "screw this, I don't need any of this" than to start a rival group or follow a charismatic dissident leader.

I don't know though, I guess I can kind of see it in one case. Could Elder Ucthdorf conceivably leave the Church and build a following? He's the only one of the Brethren with an ounce of charisma (although Elder Rasband thinks he has truckloads of it). If Elder Uchtdorf ever said "you know what, I think LGBT individuals are human beings too, and we should treat them that way. Women too, while we are at it", he could probably pull away a large following. He's the only one who could pull it off, though, all the rest of them have all of the charisma of a socially backwards turnip.

I don't see that happening though. Elder Uchtdorf isn't the Great NOM Hope some people think he is. He's more like the tyrant who knows who to make you feel warm and fuzzy while he's oppressing you, as opposed to Elder Oaks, who doesn't bother with the niceties and just oppresses you.

[moksha]

Individual churches can split from the United Methodists World Conference. If an entire ward split from the LDS Church, they would need to find some new place to meet on Sunday.

In 2006, more than 300 churches from the Pacific Southwest region of American Baptist Conference USA voted to withdraw from their 1.5-million member parent denomination after its leaders refused to address complaints about the membership of “welcoming and affirming” churches, or churches that accept as members unrepentant homosexuals, in the denomination.

[Corsair]

Individual churches can split from the United Methodists World Conference. If an entire ward split from the LDS Church, they would need to find some new place to meet on Sunday.

This is a critical point. The LDS church has full legal ownership of every single ward building. Local congregations have no legal right to use their meetinghouse except at the gracious allowance by the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is not a joke, it is the actual, legal reality.

The LDS church has been assiduously trying to keep the conservative tithe-payers in the church. Those liberal weenies who want to embrace the gays were not going to be the future leaders anyway. Why should LDS leadership cultivate those "pay tithing on net income" losers instead of the pioneer stock conservatives who get their blessings "on gross, not net" when paying tithing?

I'm really not trying to simply be cynical. The leaders in the next couple of decades are going to be the stalwarts that look like those apostles who have been strong believers since World War 2. It will be interesting to see the shift as this Baby Boomer pool runs out and the Gen X and Millennials get ordained as High Priests (sorry, ladies, this path is not paved for you). I realize the acceptance of LGBT people is probably the destination in the longer future.

But the LDS church has a long institutional history of dealing with break off groups. The corporate structure is designed to prevent some upstart, LGBT loving bishop from taking his congregation and building with him any time soon.

[wtfluff]

How many current mormon "denominations" are there?

It's already "split" hundreds of times. It's currently "splitting" (See: Denver Snuffer,) and it will continue to "split."


I don't see any of the current Q15 "splitting" and taking a group with them; The sunk costs are just too great for them. It wold be cool though.

Uchdorf-ites? Gong-ites?

[Hagoth]

I predict that it will continue to go in the general direction the church is heading. They will say more and more inclusive things that make everyone think they have changed but it will just get more and more mushy so that that everyone interpret as they want. Those who stop listening to the lip surface and dig an inch beneath the surface will see that nothing important has changed at all. They might eventually tolerate LGBT marriages but not sealings, and they will come up with a talk-around about how it will all work out in the end for you anyway. Like the way women don't need the priesthood because they already possess it through their husbands. Or how we believer in the same God as other Christians and we don't teach or emphasize that God was once a man.

[deacon blues]

I didn’t realize Methodist’s had this hang-up. The Presbyterian Church I attend is proudly inclusive of LGBT’s.

[MerrieMiss]

We attended a Methodist church last year. My husband was happy it was over by 10 am, the people wore similar clothes to Mormons so we felt comfortable, and some of the hymns we sang were the same. We went on what would be similar to Relief Society Sunday where it was all female speakers from their women's group talking about what they do. I looked up their beliefs when I got home and while I don't particularly have religious beliefs but am okay with going to church, their stance on a lot of issues bothered me, including gay marriage. I didn't want to trade one fundamentalist church for another. I still may look into putting my kid in their scout troop because they're within walking distance. They also run the city's local food bank. Maybe they're a more liberal group. I've thought about going back.