No charges pursued for Methodist ministers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Leaders of the United Methodist Church decided Feb. 11 not to pursue charges against 68 ministers who participated in a lesbian “wedding” to protect their church’s opposition to same-sex marriages. Church investigators determined the charges were not serious enough to merit a church trial. If the pastors had been convicted of breaking church law, they could have been dismissed. Bishop Melvin Talbert of the church’s California-Northern Nevada Conference acknowledged, “This decision will not resolve the tension within the community.” Greg Smith of Hope United Methodist Church, Sacramento, protested the decision saying, “Today’s decision effectively ended the rule of discipline. We now follow our own individual conscience, as far as I can see.”