An e-mail from the Clergy Letter Project

I received an e-mail from Michael Zimmerman of Butler University and The Clergy Letter Project earlier today. Here's the news he had to report:

I am thrilled to report that The United Methodist Church, at its General Convention just concluded, endorsed The Clergy Letter Project.  The resolution that was overwhelmingly passed at the General Convention, which meets once every four years, adds a statement to the Book of Resolution that reads as follows:  "The United Methodist Church endorses The Clergy Letter Project and its reconciliatory programs between religion and science, and urges United Methodist clergy participation."  You can read the resolution and see how it reads in context here:  http://calms.umc.org/2008/Text.aspx?mode=Petition&Number=990.

The General Convention also adopted two other resolutions that are very supportive of evolution.  The first explicitly adds the acceptance of evolution to the Methodist's Book of Discipline.  In part, the resolution states that "We find that science's descriptions of cosmological, geological, and biological evolution are not in conflict with theology."  You can read the full resolution here:  http://calms.umc.org/2008/Text.aspx?mode=Petition&Number=50.

The final resolution adds a new statement to the Methodist's Book of Resolution dealing with creationism and intelligent design.  The wording reads as follows, "Therefore be it resolved that the General Conference of the United Methodist Church go on record as opposing the introduction of any faith-based theories such as Creationism or Intelligent Design into the science curriculum of our public schools."  The specific information is available here:  http://calms.umc.org/2008/Text.aspx?mode=Petition&Number=839.