I have never been a full-time police-and-cops reporter, but I have pulled an occasional shift on that difficult beat — which tends to involve lots of work with legal terms linked to crimes and trials.
At the same time, I have covered religion news in various capacities for 40-plus years and — this is a commentary on the divisive times in which we live — that kind of work also requires a working knowledge of legal lingo.
In the past, I have noticed that when someone is “charged” with breaking a law, that means there are debates about whether the person has committed the acts in question. In other words, officials have “charged” that a person did x, y or z, but there needs to be some kind of trial to determine if that charge is true.
With that in mind, please note the overture in this amazingly slanted Des Moines Register story — circulated via the USA Today Network — about another LGBTQ ordination conflict inside the bitterly divided United Methodist Church. Here’s the headline: “Iowa pastor facing church trial for being 'self-avowed practicing homosexual' takes leave of absence.”
An openly queer Iowa City pastor charged with "being a self-avowed practicing homosexual" in violation of United Methodist Church law will take an indefinite leave of absence, according to an agreement announced Wednesday.
A trial date had already been set when the Rev. Anna Blaedel requested a "just resolution," which focuses on "repairing any harm to people and communities," according to the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Blaedel, who identifies as queer and uses the pronouns they and them, expressed frustration and disappointment in a letter published in full by the Gazette. …
"Today we are naming together the truth that it is not currently possible for me to continue my ministry in the context of the Iowa Annual Conference, nor the UMC," wrote Blaedel, the former director of the Wesley Center at the University of Iowa. "That is not the truth I want to come to, but it has been, is being, revealed as true. ... I am no longer willing to subject my body and soul and life to this particular violence.
Now, let’s read this carefully.
Of course, the fact that a person is “openly queer” does not mean that he or she is violating the denomination’s doctrines, as expressed in its Book of Discipline. Why? Because an “openly queer” reference does not automatically settle the issue of whether someone is also a “self-avowed practicing homosexual” who is sexually active outside a traditional marriage. There are celibate ministers who openly state that they are gay or lesbian, but stress that they affirm and defend the teachings of their churches.
So Blaedel has been “charged” with violating the church’s doctrines on this divisive subject. This also means that Baedel has been charged with violating the vows that ministers recite during United Methodist ordination rites.
However, note the following later in the same story:
Blaedel was the subject of three separate complaints in three years, starting when the minister publicly came out as queer at the 2016 Iowa Annual Conference.
“I am a self-avowed practicing homosexual,” Blaedel said in floor remarks. “Or, in my language, I am out, queer, partnered clergy.”
Interesting. The question, of course, is why people have been debating whether Blaedel has violated the church’s teachings — as a “self-avowed practicing homosexual” — if Blaedel has openly and publicly stated, “I am a self-avowed practicing homosexual.” What is the meaning of “charged” in this kind of case?
The answer, of course, is that Blaedel has not been on trial. The question, all along, has been whether regional United Methodist officials accept the authority of their own denomination’s doctrines and, thus, its ordination vows. This denomination’s laws, rooted in its acceptance of centuries if Christian teachings on sex and marriage, have survived several decades of attacks by United Methodists who want to modernize those doctrines.
If you are interested in reading a story about that issue — a story in which the beliefs of people on both sides are presented accurately and fairly — then this Register piece is not the kind of story that you need to read.
This piece is slanted in every way that an alleged news story can be slanted. This next passage is about as close as it comes to offering balance, when dealing with United Methodist doctrines on this subject”
The first complaint against Blaedel, in 2016, was dismissed by Iowa's former resident bishop. A second complaint was filed after Blaedel officiated a close friend's same-sex wedding. A third complaint again charged Blaedel with "being a self-avowed practicing homosexual," in violation of the denomination's rule book, called the Book of Discipline.
Bishop Laurie Haller, the resident bishop of Iowa, oversaw the second and current complaints. In a statement…, Haller apologized to Blaedel "for the harm that you have experienced, not only because of this complaint, but because of previous complaints as well."
Haller said the church is "broken."
Did anyone at the Register attempt to interview those who defend United Methodist doctrines?
Do we even need to ask that question? There is no evidence in the story that this Journalism 101 work was even attempted. This appears to be the new normal, in way too many newsrooms.