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A separate bill encouraged secular laws to "ensure full civil and economic rights for persons in civil unions and marriages without regard to the gender of the partners."
Other measures would delete a Methodist rule that bars "self-avowed practicing homosexual" clergy and prohibits church blessings for homosexual unions, and would delete a policy statement that homosexual practice is incompatible with Christian teaching.
Each quadrennial Methodist conference since 1972 has debated gay issues.
-- Associated Press
Mission Study Identifies 'Least-Reached' People
Research released Tuesday by Mission Aviation Fellowship analyzes 364 isolated areas whose inhabitants are considered the hardest to reach for evangelistic work and social services.
Of the world's 20 "least-reached" ethnic groups, 15 were in Asia, including five each in Afghanistan (Hazara, Pashtun, Tajik, Turkman, Uzbek) and China (Han, Han-Gan, Kham, Salar, Tu) and two in Nepal (Magar, Rai). Other groups were located in Djibouti, Guinea, India, Iraq, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Pakistan.
A broader index of the most difficult areas for Christian missionaries to reach showed 173 in Africa, 97 in Latin America and 94 in Asia. In all, two-thirds of the regions had little or no Christian ministry in place.
The Operation Access report had been in preparation since 2000. It focuses on "pockets of people who are either forgotten or unreached" and on the problems that "prevent or impede peoples' access to the Gospel," such as inaccessible locations, language barriers, economic factors, laws and religious opposition. It also lists any Christian agencies with contacts in each area.
The Protestant fellowship provides 40,000 flights a year, as well as communications and other support for missionaries and nongovernment organizations in remote areas. It conducted the study to set its own plans for the next 15 to 20 years and help other evangelical groups with strategy.
-- Religion News Service
