How's this for being disingenuous:
Linda Bales, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, participated in a panel discussion on advocacy with representatives from the Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran churches. She explained to non-Methodists that her agency bases its advocacy positions on the denomination's Social Principles, which outline the church's position on social and economic concerns and other human issues based on a "sound biblical and theological foundation."
"We're not lobbyists," said Bales, "but we do mobilize people to be a prophetic voice. We play the United Methodist card whenever we can, reminding politicians that there are 8 million United Methodists in the U.S. Of course, not all agree with every position we take. Our General Secretary, Jim Winkler, regularly speaks out against the war in Iraq and gets numerous pieces of hate mail because of that."
So essentially what Linda Bales is saying is that although they don't represent 8 million United Methodists, she doesn't mind pretending that the UMC lobbyists (and yes, they are lobbyists) represent 8 million people.
Where I come from, we call that lying. Bales calls it a "prophetic voice".
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