United Methodist Women

United Methodist Women Doubles Down on Radical Left at Assembly

on May 9, 2018

As the official women’s organization of the United Methodist Church convenes this weekend in Columbus, Ohio for its quadrennial gathering, the list of speakers should raise eyebrows. United Methodist Women (UMW) will feature keynote addresses from two co-chairs of the Women’s March on Washington: Linda Sarsour and Tamika D. Mallory.

The United Methodist Women Assembly has long been known as a hotbed of hard-left political activism, and the May 18-20 gathering will be no exception. According to UMW, approximately 8,000 women are expected to participate. An invitation to Sarsour and Mallory to address the gathering is a step further than the organization has gone in recent memory.

The UMW cites Mallory as “a champion of the new civil rights movement”, but the activist drew criticism from Jewish and Israeli media when she pledged her support for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan who has a long history of anti-Semitic statements.

Sarsour is promoted as “an award winning racial justice and civil rights activist, community organizer, and mother of three”. An American Muslim of Palestinian descent, Sarsour has been criticized for a string of social media messages praising the Muslim Brotherhood, attacking U.S. military recruiters, police, and declaring “Nothing is creepier than Zionism”.

At the last UMW Assembly held in 2014, former U.S. Secretary of State and Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton was invited to keynote, prompting the IRD to issue a press release calling on Clinton to distance herself from the more troubling aspects of the UMW’s Assembly, including an anti-Israel workshop entitled “Why Justice in Palestine Is a Racial Justice Imperative” led by an anti-Israel activist.

“UMW’s anti-Israel stance doesn’t represent the views and policies of Hillary Clinton in her public life,” said IRD President Mark Tooley. “It would be so helpful if she urged UMW’s officials in a new, more helpful direction of democracy, security, liberty and especially religious freedom for all.”

In 2016, Clinton, just before a vote of the United Methodist General Conference on church divestment from companies doing business with Israel, reasserted that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was counterproductive to peace. Later the conference voted to encourage church boards and agencies to end their affiliation with an organization that promotes boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

Anti-Israel activism isn’t the only area where the UMW has diverged from the United Methodist General Conference. The Women’s March featured abortion provider Planned Parenthood as one of its two premier sponsors of its 2017 rally, and organizers’ decided to remove a pro-life woman’s group from partnership status.

Just two years ago UMW was reined in by the United Methodist General Conference, which instructed the agency to disassociate from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), of which it was at the time a coalition member. The organization, formerly known as the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, exists to provide a veneer of religious support for unrestricted abortion-on-demand.

United Methodist Women claims to be the largest faith-based women’s organization in the world, but it has also experienced significant decline in recent years. At its height in 1974, the UMW reported 1.36 million members. Statistics made available by the United Methodist General Council on Finance and Administration (GFCA) show that UMW dropped to 438,543 members in 2016, the most recent reporting year, a 68 percent decline in one generation. The 5.37 percent rate of decline in 2016 (-24,871 from the previous year) exceeds that of the denomination’s overall U.S. membership, which dropped only 1.62 percent in the same time period.

Themed “The Power of Bold” the 2018 Assembly centers around four Social Justice priorities: Maternal & Child Health, Climate Justice, Mass Incarceration and Economic Inequality. The UMW Assembly program states that throughout Assembly 2018, participants will explore the biblical story of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Mary is a religious, social, civic and even cultural icon whose story is deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of people around the world,” the program reads.

  1. Comment by Carol on May 9, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    In our church all women members are automatically UMW members. I’m curious how many other churches do this. I think the “largest faith-based women’s organization” numbers might be misleading.

  2. Comment by William on May 9, 2018 at 7:03 pm

    Any association at all with Planned Parenthood is an abomination. This alone disqualifies them as a legitimate Christian organization. There are so many human tragedies in this old world, even if only women and children sufferings, that this organization should be laser focused on thus making some of those that they are focused on an abysmal display of arrogant secularism and downright evil. Shameful.

  3. Comment by Vickie on May 10, 2018 at 2:42 am

    As a child of God I have free will to make my own chose of what I do with my body. God does not force Himself on us so why should we as humans try to force our will and wants on others.

  4. Comment by Diane on May 11, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    Once you have conceived a child, someone else’s body and life are at stake besides yours, namely, of course, that of the child. There are all kinds of choices you are free to make with reference to your body, but when you choose to abort, you have removed that choice from the child whose life has then been ended and who would otherwise have been born. God, the Author of life, has an interest in the life of that child.

  5. Comment by Brad on May 12, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    You may have the right to do what you want with your body and suffer The consequences but you do not have the right to end the life of a child you have created.

  6. Comment by John Smith on May 24, 2018 at 6:59 am

    Of course God forces himself upon us. The question is when. Leaving aside the quicksand of the predestination debate (which flower are you?) there is a judgement day.

  7. Comment by Scott on May 10, 2018 at 9:38 am

    If you really want to see antisemitism at work review the annual conferences in New England. While condemning Israel they would not accept an amendment to the motion condemning the Palestinians for launching rockets at Israeli civilian targets.

  8. Comment by Donna DeMarino on May 17, 2018 at 10:14 pm

    They have also had Jocelyn Elders, Andrea Mitchell and many other like speakers at UMW events. It has the feel of a political agenda. I dropped out of UMW because of my unease at how political the newsletters from headquarters were sounding. Now I am heartbroken to be withdrawing my letter of membership in the UMC because of an ever-increasing focus on secular goals and a lethargic response from the top. There is little true biblical teaching, it’s mostly how to be your “best self”. They do not even bother to explain why they are changing the church’s long-held beliefs. They seem to have popular social justice goals confused with the type of justice that God desires. There is no emphasis or instruction on witnessing for Christianity and the mission trips are mostly maintenance or building trips and in some cases, mission participants are told not to witness. It might as well be a branch of any secular charity. In the past, I was thankful that the church was a refuge from politics, a safe and comforting place to learn about Jesus and the gospel. Many of today’s leaders have distorted His love to justify any behavior they choose as right. The Bible tells of this but it is still heartbreaking to see.

  9. Comment by Dorothy Mieir on May 23, 2018 at 12:01 am

    I expect to see the UMC divide with those still dedicated to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ going the conservative direction and those favoring the left agenda forming a liberal branch of their
    own. I believe God will bless those who keep Him first in their lives and live to do His will.

  10. Comment by Colby on May 23, 2018 at 10:42 am

    Yeah; those hard left crones racially united the church back in the day. How. Dare. They.

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