Jury finds lesbian pastor in Bothell church not guilty
In returning their verdict around 3:30 p.m. 11 voted not guilty and the other two were undecided.
"The church did not present sufficient, clear and convincing evidence to sustain the charge" against Dammann, according to one juror, the Rev. Karla Fredericksen.
The 47-year-old Dammann was ordained a minister in the United Methodist Church in 1991, serving as pastor of Seattle's Woodland Park United Methodist Church from 1996 to 1999.
In 2001, in a letter seeking another church appointment, she disclosed to her bishop that she is a practicing homosexual in a committed relationship. Her disclosure triggered official church charges that she was engaging in "practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teaching" as set forth in the Book of Discipline, which lays out church laws and social principles.
Today's verdict is consistent with trial testimony from a defense witness, the retired Bishop Jack Tuell of Des Moines, a leading expert on church law.
He told jurors that after an exhaustive study of the Book of Discipline, he wasn't sure if the United Methodist Church had ever really declared that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with church teaching. Jurors reached a similar conclusion, Fredericksen saying today they could not find a "firm and clear enough declaration" to that effect.
Though Dammann could have appealed a guilty verdict, the church cannot appeal today's acquittal.
Had jurors come back with a guilty verdict, Dammann could have been removed from the church, stripped of her ministry, suspended or reprimanded, Tuell said earlier.
The outcome will be felt not just within the United Methodist Church — the third-largest Christian church in the country — but is certain to draw scrutiny from other Christian denominations that also are wrestling with issues regarding homosexuals in the ministry.
Yesterday, the Rev. James Finkbeiner, who represented the church in Dammann's trial, said the ruling will have "tremendous ramifications" on the United Methodist legislative body, which meets next month. "It will create pressures of fear and anxiety and confusion, particularly if she's innocent. But, if she's guilty as well."
The general conference meets every four years and revises the Book of Discipline, A big question, Finkbeiner said, is whether the verdict might "ultimately threaten the church in terms of can we hold it together."
Closing arguments in the trial were made yesterday.
"This is a trial about Karen Dammann. The law of the church is not on trial. This may make your decision more painful to reach," Finkbeiner said. "However, by ordination, we have agreed here to make these hard decisions."
In contrast, Dammann's counsel urged jurors to be faithful to the Book of Discipline in its entirety, not just to a few paragraphs on homosexuality. The document champions inclusiveness and justice, said the Rev. Robert Ward.
"Make love practical, make love plain and do what is right."
He also reminded the jurors to be careful about making rules that exclude people. "You do know, don't you, that there is always the temptation of the powerful to blame the victim," he said.
Soon after, the jurors left the fellowship hall of Bothell United Methodist Church, which since the trial began on Wednesday has been filled with observers and members of the media seated on folding chairs. The room has been fashioned to look like a courtroom with a witness stand and somber backdrop on the wall.
Before they began deliberating, jurors were urged to decide how they will explain their verdict when the time comes, and whether they speak as individuals or simply issue a statement.
"Whatever your verdict is, the church will learn not only what it is, but why it is," said the presiding officer, Bishop William Boyd Grove of Charleston, W.Va.
The eight women and five men, along with two alternates, were chosen from a pool of about 50 United Methodist ministers from across Washington and Northern Idaho.
Church rules require that the jury be appropriately balanced in gender and race. Some have been out of seminary just a few years; others are retirees in their 60s and 70s. All have served in a variety of churches.
"This will not be easy," said the Rev. Flora Bowers, a district supervisor from Spokane who knows many of the jurors. But these are people of integrity who will listen to each other, she said.
Across the country, other mainline Protestant denominations also are deeply divided over issues of homosexuality.
The consecration last year of openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson in the Episcopal Church led to the formation of a network of conservative Episcopal churches. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which allows its clergy to perform same-sex holy unions but prohibits ordaining noncelibate gays and lesbians, will likely vote on the latter issue in June.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is studying whether to ordain those in committed, same-sex relationships — something it may vote on in 2005.
Within Judaism, Conservative Jews are debating whether to ordain gay and lesbian rabbis. Reform Judaism ordains gays and lesbians. Orthodox Judaism does not.