From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG USA Today - Jimmy Creech Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 23:13:32 -0500 (EST) The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 12 congregations and organizations and 53 clergy from 15 religious traditions. If you are in the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in other areas. March 15, 1998 USA Today 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington,VA 22229 Dear Editors: In his letter of March 16, the Rev. James Gibson stated that Jimmy Creech was on trial for "disobedience to the order and discipline of the United Methodist Church." He goes on to suggest that Rev. Creech and his supporters should leave the church if they do not believe in a God who said, "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." First of all, Rev. Creech was found to have performed a ceremony for two women, not two men, so the Leviticus passage is not applicable; and secondly, a jury of his peers, according to the rules of the denomination, found that by performing this ceremony he had not violated the order and discipline of the United Methodist Church. To many Christians, any supposed Biblical prohibition against same-gender relationships is neither clear nor consistent with the rest of the Biblical message, and the jury in Rev. Creech's case found that the supposed denominational prohibition against ceremonies celebrating those relationships was not clear or consistent with the rest of the church's Discipline. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators -- Interfaith Working Group Religious organizations, congregations iwg@libertynet.org and clergy supporting gay rights, http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/ reproductive freedom, and the 215-235-3050 separation of church and state.