An ex-girlfriend once invited me to attend her church as I was going through a spell of agnosticism. I just couldn't accept that a one, true almighty God would condone the actions and behavior of His supposed followers: murdering abortion doctors because "they commit murder" and so forth.

As soon as she informed me that she belonged to the Methodist Church, I vehemently stated, "I will never set one foot inside a Methodist church." She asked me why.

Here's why:

From the United Methodist Church's website:

http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=1736
"We support measures that would reduce the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few."

– This is highly communistic! The basic qualifier of Communism can be reduced to one sentence: "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Straight from the Communist Manifesto.

"We further support efforts to revise tax structures and to eliminate governmental support programs that now benefit the wealthy at the expense of other persons."

– Just how do they want to see the tax structures revised? To where only the wealthy pay taxes? That is my guess based on their loathing of the "wealthy" evidenced in the first quote from the website.

And I would like to know, exactly, what governmental support programs "benefit the wealthy at the expense of other persons." I cannot think of any because the eeeeeevil wealthy do not need support, only those "less fortunate" need support – those who have not "won life's lottery" as former Senator Tom Daschle put it. Or was it former Representative Dick Gephardt? Who cares? They are one in the same.

http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=1742
"We call upon governments and all employers to ensure for migratory workers the same economic, educational, and social benefits enjoyed by other citizens."

– Migrant workers??? They're ILLEGAL ALIENS! And because they are illegal aliens (please do not fall for the media's labeling of "Undocumented Immigrants") they are not United States citizens nor should they enjoy the economic, educational and social benefits that CITIZENS do. If they want those same benefits, apply for citizenship.

http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1737
"We believe private ownership of property is a trusteeship under God, both in those societies where it is encouraged and where it is discouraged, but is limited by the overriding needs of society."

– Do you realize how dangerous this is??!!! Private property ownership is okay, unless your community states otherwise. This is one of my biggest pet peeves regarding government: Eminent Domain abuse.

Eminent Domain is given to the government under the 4th amendment and it states that the government can usurp a piece of real estate or private property (which they then have to compensate the owner, but never anywhere near the fair market value of said property) for the use of the government under the guise of benefiting the society usually in the form of a government structure such as a school or public library, police station, etc. However, government now abuses this power by grabbing the property, previously unacquired through normal business negotiations, and then selling it at a premium to a land developer who places on it a Wal-Mart (Wal-Mart is probably the biggest culprit in nationwide eminent domain cases) or a hotel or something where the local government will stand to gain more tax revenue in the form of sales taxes, along with the standard property taxes, than they would in just property taxes from the previous owner.

With an understanding of the quotes from the website, it sounds like the UMC toes the line with the government. I cannot subscribe to that ideology, or as I like to say idiot-ology.

By the way, you did know that George W. Bush is a Methodist, didn't you? And you thought he was a conservative.