Liberia News: Double-Standards In UMC’s Same-Sex Saga?

By Perry B. Zordyu

Liberia-The health of the United Methodist Church, one of the cornerstones of Christianity in Liberia, is presently frail in light of the turbulence it is facing over whether it stands on the side of same-sex marriage or the biblical beliefs and principles it supposed to subscribe to.

The Church has been in the throes of a perniciously serious upheaval occasioned by a decision by Church leaders to endorse the practice of same-sex marriage, allowing church members to indulge into what the Bible vehemently opposes and detests.

The issue took a dramatic turn Sunday when hell broke loose at two outstanding Methodist Churches, one in 72^nd and the other in New Georgia, when members went amok in desperate opposition to what some members termed as ‘demonic practice’ in the house of God, which they accused Bishop Samuel Quire of pampering.

Though the Bishop has been expressing public opposition and rejection to such anti-Bible and Christ deportment, his decision to suspend some Pastors who have been so vocal against same-sex marriage in the Church is said to have struck a chord, questioning his sincerity and openness to the delicate issue, with some suggesting double-standards on his part.

Others strongly believe that the issue, which has already shaken the foundation of the religious, also has the propensity to demoralize the church and even lessen its once revered standing in Liberia society as the conscience of moral sanctity.     

While others are accusing him of being responsible for the problem, he continues to whisk off any wrongdoing, consistently vowing anti-same-sex stance.

At a press conference Monday intended to clear the air of the myth spewed against the, he overstated the Church’s position and provide understanding on the origin and foundation of the issue, disclosing that the UMC would not allow itself to be used as the epicenter of same-sex marriage, tacitly to allay and decrease tension and rebuild lost confidence.

But some members of the Church accused him of playing double-standards with the issue, and described his statement is an escapade to evade what he has quietly nurtured.

They questioned his decision to suspend pastors who have been voicing opposition to the endorsement of same-sex marriage in the Church, while at the same time portraying a negative stance against the practice, when he in-fact has since endorsed it.

At a leadership conference in the United States sometimes ago, conferees reportedly passed a resolution in support of same-sex marriage in the Church, but the Liberia Annual Conference of the Church, which is the highest decision-making body has not made a determination on the issue, whether Liberia also falls in line with the resolution or not.

UMC Churches opposed to any form of endorsement of same-sex marriage in Church have declared their intentions to break away from the Methodist Union that is as old as the age of Methuselah, a decision which the embattled Bishop is also resisting because of its distractive nature.   

Churches breaking from the Union, according to some Methodists, could be detrimental to his desire for another term of office.

Bishop Quire is now fighting tooth to nail, expressing abhorrence to any attempt to push same-sex marriage down the throat of the Church, while also robustly reaffirming his stance against same-sex marriage

In an address at the headquarters of the LNP, Bishop Quire accentuated the Church’s position, saying “I repeat, the United Methodist Church will remain united and will not endorse any same-sex marriage in our churches.”

According to him, the United Methodist Church is not a congregational church noting that those churches who issued position statements to leave the church or planned to vacate is not Methodism.

“Those churches have forgotten their identity only due to what he termed as misinformation and disinformation disseminated to fellow Methodist and the public regarding same sex marriage in the church,” the Bishop said.

He maintained that no church bearing the emblem of the United Methodist has right to leave whether knowingly or unknowingly circumstances.

He said churches involved in writing and giving position statements of threatening to leave the church should stop or risk punishment by the church through its book of discipline.

“The Methodist Church is not a congregational church. Those who have written and who are writing position statements in the name of leaving the church does not understand the workings of the church and that is not Methodism,” Bishop Quire stated.

He added: “What they are doing is, they have forgotten their identity and thinks they are Baptist or Presbyterian.”

Bishop Quire promised serious penalty for any local church that would leave the Union after an investigation is done in line with the book of discipline of the church.

Bishop Samuel Quire statements follows huge protestations among Methodist on same sex marriage that was pronounced in 2022 at the seat of the General Conference in the United States.

Since then till now, there have been diverse views from both Methodist and Bible believing churches on gay marriage which has caused a disarray in and among church members and the Christian community.

At the same time, Bishop Samuel Quire has reemphasized the church unwavering commitment to upholding the Biblical principles enshrined in the United Methodist book of discipline.

He reiterated that the church is not and will never be a gay church as been stimulated in the public.

The Bishop of the LAC/UMC used the occasion and called on Methodist cleric including members of the church to remain faithful and keep doing the work of God thus assuring his congregation of always practicing Christianity according to the Bible of Jesus Christ.

Methodists are concerned that the Bishop and other church leaders should be blamed for the tension in the Church over same-sex marriage because he chose silence over informing the Church about the decision reached in the United States.

Others believed that the issue needed to be given primary and urgent consideration, immediately Bishop Quire returned home, by apprising to the entire Church in Liberia of the decision reached at the General Conference in the US.

According to some aggrieved church members, his failure to speak out after the Conference is tantamount to his quiet support and endorsement of same-sex marriage in the Church.

There are others who think he was wrong to have suspended pastors who have been outspoken on the issue if he was not in support of the decision, arguing that the Bishop is only playing double-standards on the issue.