Seattle ? There is nothing ambiguous about the United Methodist Church law that forbids the appointment of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” as pastors.

Yet complaints against two ministers from Seattle who openly declared they are gay have been dismissed this year, allowing them to continue to preach and fueling a fierce national debate within the church.

The decisions have galvanized Methodists who say it’s time for church doctrine to make room for gay pastors and be more accepting of gays, in general. Others are crying foul, saying church law should be upheld.

“People of genuine Christian faith disagree about this,” said the Rev. Elaine Stanovsky, spokeswoman for the Seattle district of the church’s Pacific Northwest Conference. “Both sides feel the church is going the wrong way, so everybody’s in pain about it.”

The conference’s committee on investigation dismissed a complaint last month against the Rev. Karen Dammann, former pastor at Seattle’s Woodland Park United Methodist Church, rather than sending the case on to a church trial.

Less than two months earlier, the same panel cleared Dammann’s successor, the Rev. Mark Edward Williams, who declared himself “a practicing gay man” in June 2001 at the annual meeting of the denomination’s Pacific Northwest Conference, which includes Washington state and northern Idaho.

“God works in mysterious ways,” said Williams, 32, and pastor at Woodland Park since 1999. “I think that the process Karen and I have gone through has had some real moments of grace, as well as painful, frustrating moments.”