By Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell
Slavery served to separate Methodists into separate denominations. When these separated denominations united, they did so by separating and segregating most black Methodists into the Central Jurisdiction. Some felt, and some still feel, that Scripture prohibits women from being ordained and serving as church pastors.
In 1954, when the Supreme Court declared that the practice of "separate but equal schools" was invalid, some churches established racially segregated academies that in some places were responsible for closing the public schools.
Karen Armstrong writes; "Fundamentalists have turned the mythos of their religion into logos either by insisting that their dogmas are scientifically true, or by transforming their complex mythology into a streamlined ideology" (The Battle for GOD, A History of Fundamentalism).
What is it about the inclusion of those who have been excluded that causes some persons to believe that the God who visited/visits humanity in the person of Jesus Christ needs them to be "gate-keepers" in order to keep some people away from God? The "gate-keepers" of the past have wasted so much of God's good time and have made it impossible for some of the excluded to come inside the gate and be for them what they have not been able to be for themselves.
This 40th anniversary of Woodstock brings to mind Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind." Would not God be served if those who claim that they exclude "in the name of God," asked and answered for themselves the questions that are asked in the song; "How many years can some people exist, before they're allowed to be free? How many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin'in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind."
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
