Here's a curious headline:
Bush's Own Church Has Called For The Withdrawal Of Troops From Iraq
Well, not quite. Rather, 100 United Methodists, among them a retired bishop, protested the war in Iraq and called for Bush to withdraw. But if I understand UMC polity correctly, only the Council of Bishops or the General Conference can claim to speak for the United Methodist Church. A hundred-odd marchers cannot claim such authority, even if a retired bishop is among them.
Nevertheless, much of the Left end of the blogosphere has picked up this misunderstanding and run with it. This mistake does not merit harsh criticism, as one can be easily confused about the governance of a different denomination.
And to the credit of the Methodist anti-war protestors, I saw nothing in the UMNS article to indicate that they claimed to speak for the whole UMC. It's just a misunderstanding that needs to be corrected.
Monday, September 25, 2006
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6 comments:
But then, the headline is not really incorrect, either. Just not very clear.
Folk from Bush's own church HAVE called for troop withdrawal. The "UMC" has not come out as a group calling for such, nor have people (I suppose) from Bush's actually local church (which the headline could also be interpreted as saying).
Dan, given those links, how do you think that the Left end of the blogosphere tends to understand the issue: that the offical UMC voice has called for a withdraw or that a handful of Methodists have?
Hmm. My comment really doesn't have a predicate. Maybe I shouldn't comment while fueled by two hours of sleep.
" Dan, given those links, how do you think that the Left end of the blogosphere tends to understand the issue"
Given that most may have read only the headline, I'd reckon they'd think that the UMC as an entity had decided to call for removal. That would be my guess.
You are correct, sir; only the GC speaks for the Church. The media got it wrong (big surprise).
Seems like a similarity to MSM obfuscation as in NY Times headline "Pope Apologizes For Uproar Over His Remarks" which is true but not true. He may have apologized for the uproar but not for making the remarks.
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