From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG Chicago Greg Dell letter Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 23:44:05 -0400 (EDT) April 3, 1999 Chicago Tribune 435 N. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60611 Dear Editors: Your editorial about Rev. Greg Dell and United Methodist Church policy missed the point: the prohibition against same-sex unions puts many clergy and congregations in an untenable position. It is not just a question of one member of the clergy putting his own beliefs above those of the denomination; it is about the ability of clergy and congregations to carry out their missions. While you take the view that Rev. Dell's sentence was "compassionate" because it allowed him to recant, it is also evident that there is a continued severe underestimation of both the conviction and number of clergy who perform same-sex unions, as well as the support that they enjoy from congregations. Rev. Dell is the first to be convicted, but there are sixty-nine clergy in California and Nevada and another in Iowa facing the same charge. Rev. Dell may be in the minority, but there is no question that it is a rapidly growing minority, both in his denomination and the nation as a whole. By the year 2000, United Methodists may have suffered through seventy more trials, witnessed similar disagreements about ordination and marriage of sexual minorities in other religious bodies, and heard strong statements in favor of inclusion from other faiths and denominations. Any prediction of how the United Methodist Church will vote on this issue is extremely premature. Sincerely, Barbara Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators The above letter went out on IWG letterhead listing 17 congregations and organizations and 61 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. -- Interfaith Working Group Religious organizations, congregations http://www.libertynet.org/iwg and clergy supporting gay rights, iwg@libertynet.org reproductive freedom, and the voice: 215-235-3050 fax: 232-0829 separation of church and state. Sunday May 16, 1999 5pm. Marching In the Light: IWG Benefit Concert. Old First Reformed Church. 4th and Race, Philadelphia, PA. See the web page.