Methodist bishops oppose Bush library
DALLAS - Methodist bishops and clergy are circulating a petition opposing plans by Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, to build a Bush presidential library.
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The petition claims linking George W. Bush’s presidency with a Methodist school is „utterly inappropriate” because of the president’s stances on such issues as the war in Iraq, the environment, and homosexual rights.
Methodist activist and church renewal advocate Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) says the objections to the library plan raised by liberal Methodists are „purely political” ones. „I think this issue points out how politicized the church bureaucracy is”, he asserts, „that its ire and anxiety are aroused by political issues rather than core theological and spiritual issues.”
Tooley believes the incident says a lot about the United Methodist Church. The highly politicized reaction of the liberal Methodist clergy to issues like this, he suggests, clearly „illustrates why our denomination has been in decline for the last 40 years.”
The petitioners protesting SMU’s presidential library plan claim President George W. Bush’s policies regarding Iraq, the environment, poverty and other social issues are simply not compatible with their denomination’s teaching.
Tooley notes, their objections to the Bush library at SMU have the conservative church activist wondering whether affiliation with the Bush administration may be the only „unacceptable heresy” in the United Methodist Church. „SMU, like other major universities still affiliated with the United Methodist Church, has largely become secular”, Tooley says, „and it’s almost impossible to differentiate them from non-church-related universities.” (AgapePress)
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