Methodist pastor wants Christians to support same-sex couples

Pastor Adam Hamilton of the United Methodist Church wants Christians to support

Speaking at a conference organized by the group "Uniting Methodists" in Dallas, he caused a major stir by calling on believers to stop hating on same-sex couples.

Pastor speaks against Christians who hate same-sex couples

In his address, he spoke strongly about people who accuse gay-affirming Christians of abandoning the "historic essentials of the Christian faith."

ALSO READ: Catholic church publicly recognizes "LGBT youth"

He said, "It's interesting it doesn't show up in any of the creeds, anything about same-gender marriage or even a particular doctrine on scripture doesn't show up in any of the creeds, but that's now become how some have looked at orthodoxy.

"We feel like we can't be around people like that who believe these things that are different from what I believe or practice something different or interpret the Scripture differently. Then we start calling them names. We pick the good names for us and we pick the bad names for them. We're the orthodox, that must mean you're the heretics."

In the video below, Hamilton advises United Methodist churches to unite in spite of this sensitive theological issue, adding that this is why he helped set up the group "Uniting Methodists."

"We call for disciplinary changes so that clergy are neither compelled to officiate at same-sex weddings, nor prohibited from doing so.

"We call for disciplinary changes so that annual conferences are neither compelled to ordain LGBTQ persons, nor prohibited from doing so," the group says on their website.