Every year, members of the United Methodist Church gather for their annual Western North Carolina conference at Lake Junaluska in Haywood County. Top of mind at this year鈥檚 meeting was the , a ruling enacted at the general conference in late February that enshrines punitive measures to reinforce the church鈥檚 ban on gay clergy and prohibition against gay weddings. The Traditional Plan has emphasized a between conservative and progressive camps within the United Methodist Church.
At the annual conference in June, Western North Carolina Methodists made a statement by electing 40 delegates to head to the general conference 鈥� all progressive. The vote stemmed from a local movement to recruit progressives to run as potential delegates. The 40 representatives will join next year鈥檚 general conference where the debate over the Traditional Plan will continue. Blue Ridge Public Radio鈥檚 Western North Carolina reporter attended the annual conference in Haywood County. She joins guest host Anita Rao to talk about the state of the United Methodist Church and the growing schism between progressive and traditional Methodists.
Plus, the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes have declared a for their language. Last week they agreed to work together to preserve the language with at this time is only fluently spoken by 2500 people worldwide. Knoepp gives an update on this declaration and plans to save their native language.
