双语新闻：由于在LGBTQ问题上的分歧，乔治亚州的261个教会离开了联合卫理公会

The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church voted Saturday to accept the decision of 261 congregations to leave the denomination over a divide on LGBTQ issues.

联合卫理公会北乔治亚会议周六投票接受261个教会因在LGBTQ问题上的分歧而离开该教派的决定。

“I realize how sad this time is for many, including myself,” said Bishop Robin Dease, the leader of the conference. “I just hate that those who are leaving us, I will not have the opportunity to meet or to be with.”

“我意识到，对包括我在内的许多人来说，这是多么悲伤的时刻，”会议负责人罗宾·迪斯主教说。“我只是讨厌那些离开我们的人，我没有机会见面或在一起。”

The churches are breaking from the UMC after a 2019 decision by the national United Methodist Church to allow congregations to leave by the end of 2023, “for reasons of conscience regarding a change in the requirements and provisions of the Book of Discipline related to the practice of homosexuality or the ordination or marriage of self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”

2019年，美国联合卫理公会决定允许会众在2023年底之前离开联合基督教会，“出于良心的原因，《纪律书》中有关同性恋行为的要求和规定发生了变化，或者是对公开承认的同性恋者的祝圣或婚姻进行了修改。”

As of early August 2023, over 6,000 congregations of just over 30,000 in the United States have been approved for disaffiliation since 2019, according to the UMC’s website.

根据UMC的网站，截至2023年8月初，自2019年以来，美国有超过3万多人的6000多个教会被批准脱离教会。

The 261 churches now leaving the North Georgia Conference of the UMC account for a sizable percentage of its nearly 700 churches, according to the conference’s website.

根据联合基督教会北乔治亚会议的网站，现在离开该会议的261个教会占其近700个教会的相当大比例。

Their exit marked a “solemn day,” the North Georgia Conference of the UMC said in a news release.

UMC的北乔治亚会议在一份新闻稿中说，他们的离开标志着一个“庄严的日子”。

More than 100 congregations had sued the North Georgia Conference for the right to have their disaffiliation requests heard, and a Cobb County judge agreed “a church-level vote” must take place before the deadline.

超过100个教会起诉北乔治亚会议，要求有权听取他们的脱离教会请求，科布县的一名法官同意，必须在截止日期前进行“教会层面的投票”。

Factions have fought for decades about sexuality and Scripture at the General Conference, the church’s top legislative body. After the church strengthened its bans on partnered LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage in 2019, many Methodists argued a split was likely inevitable in the second-largest Protestant denomination in the US.

在教会的最高立法机构——总会大会上，各派就性和圣经问题争论了几十年。2019年，教会加强了对LGBTQ神职人员和同性婚姻的禁令，许多卫理公会教徒认为，在美国第二大新教教派中，分裂可能是不可避免的。

In recent decades, several of the traditional mainline Protestant denominations have split up over homosexuality or related issues, including the American Baptist Churches USA, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church USA.

近几十年来，一些传统的主流新教教派因同性恋或相关问题而分裂，包括美国浸信会、美国圣公会、美国福音派路德教会和美国长老会。

On Saturday, the requests of four of the Georgia congregations seeking to be disaffiliated were not ratified, “following discussion by the members of the Annual Conference,” according to a news release.

据一份新闻稿称，周六，乔治亚州四个教会寻求脱离教会的请求“经过年度会议成员的讨论”，没有得到批准。

The exits of the 261 other churches will go into effect at the end of November.

另外261座教堂的退出将于11月底生效。

“In December, approximately 440 North Georgia Conference churches will continue the work of fulfilling the mission of the United Methodist church in our communities and beyond,” the conference said.

会议说:“12月，大约440家北乔治亚会议教会将继续履行联合卫理公会在我们社区内外的使命。”

Under the terms of the disaffiliation agreement, churches leaving the conference can no longer use the “United Methodist” name nor use the denomination’s logo. They also must fulfill financial obligations and are prohibited from pursuing further litigation against the conference, according to the news release.

根据退出协议的条款，离开会议的教会不能再使用“联合卫理公会”的名称，也不能使用该教派的标志。根据新闻稿，他们还必须履行财务义务，并被禁止对会议进行进一步的诉讼。

The church disaffiliations in north Georgia come after 193 congregations once belonging to the UMC South Georgia Conference left the denomination in May, also over the ongoing debate over LGBTQ issues.

在北乔治亚州的教会分离之前，曾隶属于UMC南乔治亚会议的193个会众在5月份离开了该教派，也是因为对LGBTQ问题的持续争论。