Contact: Jeff Walton, Institute on Religion and Democracy, 202-682-4131, 202-413-5639 cell, jwalton@TheIRD.org

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, bishops of the United Methodist Church (UMC) publicly rebuked a retired colleague who recently conducted a same-sex marriage celebration in Alabama. The UMC Council of Bishops statement calls for charges to be filed against retired Bishop Mel Talbert for both "conducting a ceremony to celebrate the marriage of a same gender couple" and "undermining the ministry of a colleague." Conducting such ceremonies is expressly prohibited in the church's governing Book of Discipline, which all ordained UMC clergy have vowed to uphold.

The United Methodist Council of Bishops full statement is viewable here.

IRD's United Methodist Action Director John Lomperis commented:

"I commend our Council of Bishops for their willingness to issue such an unprecedented public rebuke of one of their renegade members and declare that it is finally time for him to face some consequences. Now the relevant bishops need to provide continued leadership in processing the charges against Talbert so that he is truly held accountable.

"Talbert represents the fading liberal old guard of United Methodism. This action demonstrates that the future of our denomination is not with the church-killing radicals but rather with a new generation of more faithful, global leadership committed to biblically grounded ministry for ALL people.

"No one forced Talbert to become a bishop. But when individuals choose to accept election as bishop, they choose to make a covenant with God and the rest of the church to uphold our code of conduct. If our bishops cannot be trusted to keep their word to God and the church, we have no basis left for unity as a denomination. Thankfully, our Council of Bishops has made clear that they want to have integrity in our life together, despite strong pressure to do otherwise.

"The Old and New Testaments plus 2,000 years of consistent Christian teaching could hardly be clearer on how sex is a gift to only be expressed within certain boundaries. United Methodist General Conferences have affirmed this by a growing margin, so that observers on both sides agree that future change is unlikely.

"Recent protests of this standard do not reflect liberal momentum but rather liberal desperation over the ongoing reorientation of the United Methodist Church towards biblical faithfulness."