FORT WORTH, Texas — The United Methodist Church (UMC) voted 836–28 at its General Conference April 30 in Fort Worth, Texas, to apologize for the involvement of Methodist churches and pastors in the eugenics movement during the early decades of the 20th century.
The action made the UMC the first religious denomination to repent of its support of the eugenics movement.
Eugenics is the effort to produce better human beings through breeding. In this country, the movement included the forced sterilization of the "feeble minded" and mentally ill as well as laws against interracial marriage.
The resolution concluded by saying: "The United Methodist General Conference formally apologizes for Methodist leaders and Methodist bodies who in the past supported eugenics as sound science and sound theology. We lament the ways eugenics was used to justify the sterilization of persons deemed less worthy. We lament that Methodist support of eugenics policies was used to keep persons of different races from marrying and forming legally recognized families. We are especially grieved that the politics of eugenics led to the extermination of millions of people by the Nazi government and continues today as ‘ethnic cleansing’ around the world."
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