Methodist Activists Spar Over Bush Library

More debate was expected today at a Methodist conference among clergy and others over whether George W. Bush's presidential library should be built at Southern Methodist University. The United Methodist Church's South Central Jurisdiction, which owns SMU, has been bracing for a showdown over the Bush library for months.

On Wednesday, an effort by some Methodists to block the Bush library from coming to SMU failed. A committee worked agonizingly through a series of resolutions designed to distance the church from a public policy institute planned as part of the library complex. The group voted to reject a potentially divisive proposal calling for the conference to reverse a decision by the church's Mission Council granting SMU the ability to lease land to the Bush library foundation for up to 250 years.

Instead, it approved a resolution saying it expects the institute to protect SMU's "integrity," signaling that committee members don't want the institute's work to affect SMU's academic independence.

That resolution will be presented to the full conference today.

Members of the committee said their hands were mostly tied because SMU has signed a detailed legal agreement with the foundation committing itself to the three-part complex, which also includes a library and a museum.

"I came into the door knowing it was a done deal," said Andrew Hernandez, a lay leader from Houston who was on the committee. "The resolution was the best we could do, but it's not the end of it." See Chick's FOUR ANGELS?