REUTERS   Wednesday, March 24, 2004 4:14 p.m. ET

By Greg Frost

BOSTON (Reuters) - 

Conservative members of the United Methodist Church warned on Wednesday that the decision to allow an openly gay woman to remain a minister in the Church may tear apart the nation's third-largest Christian denomination.
A United Methodist clergy jury ruled unanimously on Saturday that Karen Dammann may remain a minister and stay in a lesbian relationship, despite a Church law that declares homosexuality "incompatible" with Christian teachings.
As word of the verdict spread among the Church, whose 8.3 million U.S. members include President Bush, conservatives reacted with outrage and threatened retaliatory action when the Church holds its quadrennial conference starting next month in Pittsburgh.
The Confessing Movement, a conservative faction of the United Methodist Church that has 600,000 supporters, called the jury verdict "schismatic" and said the Pacific Northwest Conference -- the part of the Church that acquitted Dammann -- had broken off and gone its own way.
"The very moral fiber and fellowship of our Church has been ripped apart. Tears of grief and sorrow flow from the center of our souls as we fear for the unity of our Church," the Confessing Movement said in a statement.
"We firmly believe that there is a solid core of biblical believers within United Methodism who will stay the course and see that this indefensible and schismatic action does not stand." 
GAY CLERGY CONTROVERSIES
The controversy over Dammann, who has been a United Methodist pastor for a decade, marked the second time in a year that conflict over openly gay clergy has threatened to tear apart a major Christian denomination in the United States.
The Episcopalian Church, the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican faith, is still reeling from the consecration last year of Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop.
Some conservative Methodists say the Church may find a way to weather the current storm, as it did in 1999 when dozens of Methodist ministers on the West Coast participated in a homosexual wedding ceremony in Sacramento, California.
"I don't think the Karen Dammann situation -- as disturbing as it is -- is worse than the same-sex wedding in 1999," said Mark Tooley, United Methodist project director for the Institute on Religion and Democracy. "It's disturbing and it's potentially schismatic, but it's not going to change the Church's overall stance on marriage and sex."
The issue is expected to be the hot topic of debate when some 1,000 delegates meet next month for the Church's General Conference.
Progressive members have already submitted a resolution that would strike the so-called "incompatibility" clause from Church law. Conservatives, meanwhile, are expected to try to further limit recognition of homosexuality.
David Steinmetz, professor of the history of Christianity at Duke University in North Carolina, said Church demographics suggest it is unlikely that delegates at the conference will vote to repeal the ban on gay clergy.
"The moderate to conservative regions of the country are going to come to the conference rich in delegates (so) it's extremely unlikely that the ban on gay ordinance will be repealed," Steinmetz said. "Will it be strengthened? It might be. It sure won't be repealed."