TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1995//
TI  - The Role of Church Assemblies in Building a Civil Society: The Case of the United Methodist General Conference's Debate on Homosexuality†
JO  - Sociology of religion
A1  - Wood, James R.
A1  - Bloch, Jon P.
SP  - 121
EP  - 136
VL  - 56
IS  - 2
N2  - This paper argues that church assemblies, as examples of "private legislatures," help to build a civil society by modeling civility in discourse on controversial societal issues and by devising concrete means for effecting the resolution of those issues. We examine the UMC General Conference's debate on homosexuality and the products of that debate.<p /> 
LA  - 
SN  - 1069-4404
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3711759
ID  - ref1
ER  -