Correctly understood, the position on civil disobedience endorsed by a majority of the General Conference does not direct or counsel the members of any Annual or Jurisdictional Conference to indulge in civil disobedience. A Methodist Conference is under no mandate to defend a member who indulges in civil disobedience. The General Conference has clearly stated that such a member must be prepared to accept the penalties imposed for his disobedience. So understood, it cannot be said to affect the work of any conference, a prerequisite to jurisdiction to seek a judicial review. Since the work of the petitioning conferences is unaffected in any direct or tangible manner by the action of the General Conference, we are without jurisdiction to entertain petitions from either of them.
Jurisdiction is denied.
As Christians we seek God's will for our lives. We realize that in times of conflict we are called upon to 'obey God rather than man' and hence may find ourselves at odds with temporal authority. At the same time we are constrained to act in humility and in the spirit of reconciliation. No society can long continue without justice and order, and these cannot exist unless the members of a society adhere to the rule of law. Where particular provisions of law are unwise or unjust, the citizen must seek correction through the law's provisions for change i.e., in the court or the legislature or to reconstitute law-making bodies through the democratic process.