Georgia judge rules 185 churches can vote to leave the United Methodist Church ~ May 17, 2023

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Editor’s Note: Why is this post about 185 churches leaving the United Methodist Church organization worth posting? The obvious answer is this legal ruling allows the churches the ability to avoid paying fair-market-value for their own church buildings. A less-obvious answer may be for churches, any Christian church, to realize it’s historical subversion by our “controllers” into convincing humanity it needs to be “saved” by the Christ.

No doubt about it, the teachings accredited to Christ are indeed stellar, and cannot be discounted in any way! Yet…Christ’s original words (only a few) have been distorted into a “belief” system with “rules” to follow in order to be “forgiven” with a reward (Heaven). This IS the basis for Catholicism, which was converted throughout history into various factions of Protestant Christ-worship .

Nowadays…most churches serve as excellent moral support systems, yet…church membership seems to block most from exploring into further personal growth, and then expanding the mind into exploring and BEing in…

Quantum Joy!

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The Gist: A landmark ruling by Cobb Superior Court Senior Judge Stephen Schuster has decreed that 185 churches in Georgia have the right to vote on whether they wish to remain part of the United Methodist Church denomination.

This case hinged on a pause in the disaffiliation process by the North Georgia Conference of the UMC that governs more than 600 churches.

What Happened?: This decision came after a contentious legal battle between the UMC and 185 churches, all of which were united in their desire to separate from the denomination due to disagreements over social issues, particularly the stance of the UMC on LGBTQ participation in the church and whether or not members of that community should be ordained as ministers.

The 185 churches take a more conservative approach to LGBTQ issues than the denomination as a whole.

The churches claimed that the North Georgia Conference’s pause on the disaffiliation process violated their rights under the Book of Discipline, UMC’s church law, specifically paragraph 2553 that allows for disaffiliation.

Why It Matters: The ruling is significant as it allows these churches to exercise their right to vote on disaffiliation, a process that was previously stalled by the conference. The court case highlighted the broader argument within the UMC over social issues and the right of local churches to decide their affiliations based on these issues.

If the churches were unable to disaffiliate under the 2553 provision, they would have been required to pay fair market value to keep their property, a financial challenge for most.