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August 9, 1998
I make my argument from the history of the Social Principles statement in the Methodist tradition. The Methodist Episcopal Church adopted its first Social Creed in 1908. From 1908 through 1936 the Social Creed was printed in an Appendix to the Discipline, always described in language similar to the statement of 1936:
"The Appendix is composed of matter which does not belong to the main portion of the Discipline, but is considered to be sufficiently important to justify publication."
In 1914 and 1916, The Methodist Episcopal Church, South and The Methodist Protestant Church adopted social creeds. When these two churches and The Methodist Episcopal Church joined in 1939 to form The Methodist Church, the Social Creed was again printed in the Appendix. In 1939, it was the first resolution printed in the chapter of the Appendix entitled General Conference Resolutions. The 1940 General Conference adopted a motion instructing:
"…those in charge of publishing the Discipline to include the Social Creed... in all future editions unless other directions are received from the General Conference."
From 1944 through 1964 the Methodist Social Creed was published in its own chapter in the Appendix to the Discipline. In 1944, when the Judicial Council of The Methodist Church was asked to rule on a potential conflict between the newly amended "Statement on Peace and War" and "Our Social Creed." It ruled: Paragraph 1716 of the 1940 Discipline, under the heading "Statement on Peace and War," and Paragraph 1712 of the 1940 Discipline, under the heading "Our Social Creed," seemed to be of equal standing, each being under the division of the 1940 Discipline known as "Resolutions, etc." (Decision 25, May 4, 1944.)
The Methodist Church and The Evangelical United Brethren joined in 1968 to form The United Methodist Church. This new church separated its official document into a Discipline and a Book of Resolutions. The Discipline was divided into four parts: Constitution, Doctrinal Statements and General Rules, Social Principles, and Organization and Administration. In the 1968 Discipline, Part III, Social Principles, was prefaced with this remark:
"The Methodist Social Creed and the Evangelical United Brethren Basic Beliefs Regarding Social Issues and Moral Standards are important historical documents. The Plan of Union takes this into account by recording the text of each."
Unlike the Methodist document, the Evangelical United Brethren statement contained two prohibitory statements, one concerning the manufacture, sale and use of beverage alcohol and the other prohibiting slavery.
In 1968, the General Conference created a Social Principles Study Commission appointed with authorization to study Part Ill of the Plan of Union and to bring to the 1972 General Conference a recommendation about a statement of social principles for The United Methodist Church. Speaking to the Uniting Conference of 1970, Bishop James S. Thomas, Chair of the Social Principles Study Commission, described the vision of the Commission with these words: "…we present the Social Principles in a form that can come before the church both as liturgy on the one hand and as a written document on the other. And when in the act of confessing and dedicating we go through the Social Creed we're doing more than simply reading it, we're becoming a part of it." (1970 Daily Christian Advocate, p. 128)
When the Study Commission presented its Social Principles statement to the 1972 General Conference, that statement did not include the prohibitory language from the EUB statement.
In 1980, the General Conference amended the Social Principles by adding a third paragraph, describing intended usage, to the Preface:
"The Social Principles are a prayerful and thoughtful effort on the part of the General Conference to speak to the human issues in the contemporary world from a sound biblical and theological foundation as historically demonstrated in United Methodist traditions. They are intended to be instructive and persuasive in the best of the prophetic spirit. The Social Principles are a call to all members of The United Methodist church to a prayerful, studied dialogue of faith and practice." (Preface to Social Principles, 1980.)
Since 1968, The United Methodist Church has printed both a Discipline and a Book of Resolutions. The Social Principles are printed in both books. In 1992, a User's Guide was added to the Book of Resolutions. Portions of that guide make it clear that neither the Social Principles nor the Resolutions were to be regarded as law:
"What's the purpose of the Book of Resolutions? …Maybe you will agree with the denomination's position. On the other hand, you may disagree. Either is all right. At the least, you know your Church cares and wants you to be a knowledgeable and caring Christian about the issues of the day….
"Isn't the Book of Discipline enough? Most of the Book of Discipline is legislation and legally sets up the framework for each part of United Methodism. The General Conference decided in 1968 that for reasons of length, these resolutions should be published in a volume separate from the Discipline. While the Book of Resolutions is not legally binding, it is an official guide from our denomination to be used responsibly for reference, encouragement, study and support.
"Why do the Social Principles appear in both the Discipline and in the Book of Resolutions? The United Methodist Church puts the Social Principles in the Discipline as one of our denominational foundation statements suggesting how faith is translated into action. Its broad principles (guides, not rules) are declarations to help us be in dialogue with one another about how faith motivates us to "get off the fence" and act.
The United Methodist Church puts the Social Principles in the front of the Book of Resolutions to help us relate the broad strokes of the Social Principles to more specific exploration and application in resolutions.
This User's Guide was in the Book of Resolutions when the 1996 General Conference added the sentence, "Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches," to Paragraph 65C of the Social Principles. The General Conference did not to eliminate or modify the User's Guide, but printed the same descriptive language in the 1996 Book of Resolutions.
Throughout the history of social creeds and statements in the Methodist tradition, those statements have been printed in an Appendix, described as not belonging to the main portion of the Discipline, described as "important historical documents," "liturgy," "instructive and persuasive," "not legally binding," and "guides, not rules." At no point have they been described as law for The United Methodist Church. In fact, the User's Guide to the Book of Resolutions explicitly invites disagreement, something no organization does with its laws.
The General Conference of 1996 was not unaware of this tradition when it chose to place this prohibitory language in the Social Principles statement. During the plenary session debate on the petition to add this language to the Social Principles statement, Phillip Wogaman of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference said:
"The statement of Social Principles is not a juridical document. And yet what we are contemplating now is a juridical action. The Social Principles are teaching tools. They express the teaching of the church on many subjects. I doubt there's anybody in this room who fully agrees with everything in all of the Social Principles. And yet they hold principles before us to guide our thinking and to direct our hearts in the direction that our church as a whole has approved. To begin to think of the Social Principles as a juridical document, one that is enforceable as a direct aspect of the polity of the church, distorts all of the relationships in the Discipline." (1996 Daily Christian Advocate, III, page 779.)
The General Conference of 1996 had before it and did not adopt petitions that would have listed celebration of same-gendered covenant services as a chargeable offense in Paragraph 2624. In each case, legislative committees recommended non-concurrence and thc General Conference sustained that action. (Docket items 1997 and 2403.)
Given the history and usage of the Social Principles it is most reasonable to conclude that the General Conference wanted to express a strong opinion that The United Methodist Church disapproves of United Methodist clergy celebrating "homosexual unions." Disapproval is not grounds for charges. It would seem to be contrary to the mind of the General Conference and to the broad history of the Social Principles to now determine that, notwithstanding the choice to put the language in the Social Principles instead of Paragraph 2624, the passage is now to be considered grounds for charges against clergy.
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