Before I begin, I would like to make one thing clear. My criticism of the UMC is leveled directly at the elites in the UMC and not at local pastors, congregation members, etc. I fully understand that United Methodists can have differing opinions on issues. This isn't really the purpose of this post.
I have three points: One being that the ideology espoused by the UMC is left-wing, two, they promote left-wing causes and three, they don't practice what they preach (haha).
Ideology
The "Social Principles" of the United Methodist Church can be found in the UMC Book of Discipline. These principles "serve as a guide to official church action and our individual witness." I would like to highlight a few of these principles.
From the heading of Economic Community, we find the following:
"Therefore, we recognize the responsibility of governments to develop and implement sound fiscal and monetary policies that provide for the economic life of individuals and corporate entities and that ensure full employment and adequate incomes with a minimum of inflation."
Right off the bat the UMC claims that the government should be responsible for ensuring "adequate incomes." How exactly can the government do this? Wealth redistribution. Taking the property that one earns and giving it to another.
"We support measures that would reduce the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.."
This sounds like something straight out of Marx, and I'm not talking about Groucho. I guess the UMC doesn't realize that the top 1% of income earners pay 40% of the income tax but only earn 20% of the adjusted gross income. Remember this Social Principle. It will come in handy later.
Now, I believe that the protection of private property rights is one of the most important things a government should do. There can be no liberty in a society that does not value private property rights. Unsurprisingly, the UMC sees it differently:
"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."
And who exactly determines what the needs of society are? Politicians? Church leaders? Me? You? Should the government enforce this?
"We support the right of all public and private employees and employers to organize for collective bargaining into unions and other groups of their own choosing."
Two things to notice about this statement. First, there is no "right" to collectively bargain, especially in the public sector. Second, they mention nothing about the "right" not to be in a union. Right to Work laws anyone?
"Every person has the right to a job at a living wage. Where the private sector cannot or does not provide jobs for all who seek and need them, it is the responsibility of government to provide for the creation of such jobs."
This is such nonsense. Have any of these people ever had an economics lesson? So many things wrong here. First, the "living wage" aka the minimum wage is such a destructive economic policy (which of course means it is favored by liberals.) The minimum wage ensures that people whose skills do not justify being paid whatever the government says they must be remain unemployed. In fact, "Each 10% increase in the minimum wage [since 2007] was accompanied by a decrease in employment of 1.2% for Hispanic males, 2.5% for white males and 6.5% for black males." This policy leads exactly to the next statement about the private sector not being able to provide jobs. The living wage they want causes the problem that they condemn. I wonder if they realize how incoherent this is.
Second, notice how they phrase part of the second sentence: "where the private sector cannot or does not provide jobs.." Is it really the position of the UMC that business owners actually need to hire people but they do not simply as a means to screw people over? These people have no clue how/why jobs are created. I know this might come as a shock to the UMC elites, but here it goes: Businesses have no obligation to hire anyone. Period. Businesses hire people because they need them. Not because some elite do-gooder thinks they should.
Lastly, exactly where is the government going to get the money to pay for all of these jobs that the government "creates?" The only three places where they can get the money: tax, borrow, or print. All three have negative economic outcomes. Haven't we had enough "government created jobs" to know that it never works?
"We call upon governments and all employers to ensure for foreign workers the same economic, educational, and social benefits enjoyed by other citizens."
And of course by "foreign workers" they mean illegal aliens. More on this later.
Promote left-wing causes
After just a quick visit to the UMC homepage, it is obvious that they promote left-wing viewpoints. Consider the following headlines:
Church leaders defend collective bargaining
Clergy fear Alabama [immigration] law imperils ministry
Deportations leave teen alone
Religious tolerance urged in 9/11 discourse
Faithful urged to contact Congress about debt read more »
