In Methodist Christianity, the 2014 "Discipline" of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection discourages interfaith marriages, stating "Many Christians have married unconverted persons. This has produced bad effects; they have either been hindered for life, or have turned back to perdition." Though the United Methodist Church authorizes its clergy to preside at interfaith marriages, it notes that has been interpreted "as at least an ideal if not an absolute ban on such marriages as an issue of scriptural faithfulness, if not as an issue of Christian survival." At the same time, for those already in an interfaith marriage (including cases in which there is a non-Christian couple and one party converts to Cristianity after marriage), the Church notes that Saint Paul "addresses persons married to unbelievers and encourages them to stay married (see )."