The pastors could face stiff sanctions if they flout church doctrine, ranging from receiving a warning to being defrocked, said Alexx Wood, spokeswoman for the church’s New England Conference.
“It is quite a statement that they’re doing this,’’ she said.
Support for same-sex marriage has percolated inside the United Methodist Church since 2008, when the church’s top legislative body, the General Conference, took a vote that narrowly affirmed the denomination’s stance against same-sex unions.
That contentious vote for the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination illustrated a clear rift that has bubbled from the ranks of some 400 clergy in New York, Illinois, and Minnesota who have signed statements akin to the pledge from the New England ministers.
The General Conference includes nearly 1,000 clergy and lay members from around the world who meet every four years to set policy. It decided by a 501-to-417 vote in 2008 to leave provisions barring gay marriage and the practice of homosexuality intact.
Church advocates of gay marriage say that by opposing such unions, the Methodist leadership is forfeiting core values of justice and equality.
A broad contingent of church leaders, however, does not wish to change the passages regarding gay marriage in the Book of Discipline, the church’s record of policies and beliefs.
“I basically agree with our position as a church,’’ said Bishop Peter D. Weaver, head of the New England Conference, which oversees pastors in the region.
“We have what I think is a good process of holy conferencing,’’ Weaver said, calling it democratic and representative. “I’m committed to supporting that process.’’
The General Conference convenes again next April, when church leaders expect the issue of gay marriage to be addressed again, as it has for nearly four decades, Wood said.
This time, members of the church hierarchy said, they expect the debate to be animated by the recent fervent opposition to the ban on gay marriage.
