Most mainline sects have a jurisprudence system when dealing with their clergy. The Baptists are, ironically, the only exception (among mainlines), due to their rejection of a hierrarchy beyond the Presbytery. Methodists are a hybrid of Pre-Oxford Movement Church of England and Calvinism, so a synod court is not alien to their theology. John Wesley would not have disapproved.

The one thing about Baptists is that they do have the Southern Baptist Conference, which is a specific union of churches but is not a synod. It has no authority over it's constituents, merely a parliamentary method of deciding who is and who is not a Southern Baptist. This is why Fred Phelps can call himself a Baptist all day and all night and nobody will argue with his status as a Baptist.

Sincerely,
Guy Who Was A KJV-Only Baptist Studying For The Ministry Until Age 20

To quote Starship Troopers 3: "but it's the wrong god!"

@Cog: I was being sarcastic, as those who raise the Sharia boogeyman overlook the many, MANY religious "courts" our country has running in it right now for various sects and religions that don't seem to be as scary for some reason, even though those who adhere to them far outnumber our Muslim population.

Sharia deals with secular offenses for the general populace. I would think that these courts only cover religious offenses for church members. Not that people don't also argue that teh bible ought to be the basis of all law.

Also, aren't Methodists evangelicals (at least technically)? I seem to remember them getting up to all sorts of shenanigans in the nineteenth century.

@Ashtar: I play piano for several Methodist churches, and it really just depends on the individual church. There is a WIDE range.

(See above comment, which I meant to reply to)

(Also, STARSHIP TROOPERS 3?! WHY?!!!)

It is amazing...after watching Starship Troopers 2.

we only had the budget for one hornswaggler and three methodists

I like the part of Bloodsuckers From Outer Space where the military accidentally nukes the Methodist Encampment. Oops, Spoilers.