A 21st century witch trial has just been concluded in Pennsylvania. A public trial was held by the United Methodist Church. A minister was denounced for being a lesbian and defrocked.
The 13 enthusiasts voted 12-1 that Irene Elizabeth Stroud had violated the church's Book of Discipline that says homosexuality is incompatible with being a minister.
The 13 then voted 7-6 to withdraw Stroud's ministerial credentials at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia.
Stroud, associate pastor at the church, was accused of violating church law by being an "a self-avowed practicing homosexual". They stopped short of publicly declaring that she had been visited by familiar spirits such as black cats, talking cows and wolves with burning eyes that speak only Greek.
"I feel a lot of sadness but I also feel hope for the future of the church," Stroud said. "I feel that this is a teaching moment for the church."
Silas Comfort (1808 - 1868) was a courageous anti-slavery Methodist and member of the Genesee, Oneida and Missouri Conferences. While in St. Louis, he admitted as evidence in a church trial the testimony of a Negro – which was forbidden in public trials in Missouri. He was censured by his Conference, but that was overturned by the 1840 General Conference – which then bowed to Southern pressure and passed a resolution prohibiting the testimony of Negroes in church trials within states that forbade such testimony in public trials. That resolution was rescinded in1844.
We need Silas now.
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