I discovered that there is a segment of the United Methodist Church that is extremely angry with our President. George W. Bush is a Methodist. But, if a certain group of Methodists gets its wish then he may not be a Methodist for ever.
These Methodists have set up an online petition dedicated to ex-communicating the President from the United Methodist Church. I am not familiar with the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, so I don't know how accurately the Methodist positions are stated. I will say, however, that those calling for the President's removal from the church basically want him to be ex-communicated for being a conservative.
Here is the conclusion of the petition:
We, the undersigned, are also very much disturbed by President Bush's many
references to the significance of Christian faith in the decisions that he has
made as President of the United States. George W. Bush has called Jesus his
"favorite philosopher", said that Jesus changed his life, and that his decisions
are often guided by prayer. In fact, we feel that most of his actions as
president have directly contradicted the philosophy of Jesus. Jesus said to
feed, clothe, and shelter the "least of these", not to starve, strip, and bomb
them.
We are also concerned that the respondents seem completely ignorant of
their denomination's stances on many weighty moral issues and have consistently
ignored the advice and pleadings of their own Council of Bishops. We, the
undersigned, recognize that the Methodist tradition is founded on both support
and accountability. Our leaders and our members have tried to support the
respondents with prayers and petitions, but we fear it has been to no avail. At
this point, we cannot be expected to "encourage and enjoin obedience to the
powers that be" (2000 Discipline, p.66) when they are reckless and irresponsible
with power given them by our democratic process.
Now is the time to hold them accountable, or to be judged ourselves by God
for not doing so.
