{"id":54115,"date":"2024-01-02T10:56:38","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T15:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/?p=54115"},"modified":"2024-01-02T10:56:38","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T15:56:38","slug":"dean-robert-a-hill-opinion-article-published-on-msnbc-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/dean-robert-a-hill-opinion-article-published-on-msnbc-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean Robert A. Hill Opinion Article published on MSNBC.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>The following is an excerpt from\u00a0<\/i><em>Dean of Marsh Chapel and School of Theology Professor of New Testament and Pastoral Theology<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/profile\/robert-allan-hill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Allan Hill<\/a>\u2019s opinion<span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><em>article \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/opinion\/msnbc-opinion\/methodist-church-anti-lgbtq-christian-schism-rcna131606\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How a schism can unite US Methodists<\/a>,\u201d published on December 31, 2023 on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MSNBC.com<\/a><\/em><em>. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Boston University School of Theology, its employees, faculty, or students.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span>On Dec. 31, the United Methodist Church will officially complete its realignment, a period of several years during which congregations\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2023\/12\/20\/methodist-church-lgbtq-issues-prompt-mass-exodus-as-deadline-nears\/71964830007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">could vote to leave<\/a><span>\u00a0the denomination. Up to a quarter of American congregations have chosen this option. The percentage of churches and percentage of congregants is not the same \u2014\u00a0it may be a smaller percentage of actual members who split off \u2014 but this schism has changed the shape of Methodism. And yet, while the schism will bring challenges, it also has provided a way forward for the vast majority of members to\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/msnbc\/refrocked-pastor-frank-schaefer-speaks-out-trial-msna442051\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">affirm and love its LGBTQ members<\/a><span>, as well as their many family members and other allies.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a class=\"button btn-blue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/opinion\/msnbc-opinion\/methodist-church-anti-lgbtq-christian-schism-rcna131606\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read the full article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following is an excerpt from\u00a0Dean of Marsh Chapel and School of Theology Professor of New Testament and Pastoral Theology\u00a0Robert Allan Hill\u2019s opinion\u00a0article \u201cHow a schism can unite US Methodists,\u201d published on December 31, 2023 on MSNBC.com. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12612,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[200,201,202,203],"tags":[194,250,391],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54117,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54115\/revisions\/54117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}