Update on Southern Baptist President Breach of Faith with Guillani

I posted here at Did the President of the Southern Baptist Convention Break A Trust with Giuliani? on this subject. Let me clear again. I am very much opposing Giuliani for the nomination. I am a fervent Huckabee supporter. However the issue here is not Giulani in my book. It is Christian leaders doing things that make Christians in the public square look bad.


It appears that I am not the only one shocked


Presidential Candidates Risk Spiritual Smack Downs When Visiting Baptist Leader says Baptist Ethics magazine. Now full disclosure. This is sort of the "rival" baptist in the Country. Also I don't really care if the President of the SBC thinks Catholics are Christians are not or that he shared his views with Guillani. The article states:
"Preachers and politicians meeting together or posing for photographs on the church steps is an age-old practice that validates both professions. It makes church folk think the preacher is so relevant that the politician needs their advice and support. It makes the same folk think the politician is one of them.
It's another matter altogether for a preacher to share publicly an exchange of a spiritual nature with a politician, such as the status of one's faith. Private spiritual discussions should remain private."


Amen to that.
A breech of ministerial ethics - SBC President Frank Page and GOP candidates says Ben Diction Blog.
"The ethical breech of trust here is mind boggling. While anyone in public office or running for public office is pretty much fair game, this smells. It is most certainly inappropriate behavior for a protestant minister and for the head of a denomination. I would never trust a minister who is willing to toot his own horn about ‘witnessing’ to politicians and then blabbing to the media or his congregation about the conversation.This happened recently in a less blatant way when a Calgary minister bragged about his friendship with Stephen Harper recently.
The Southern Baptist Convention staff needs some ethics lessons, starting with it’s president and filtering through to it’s front line ministers.Lesson: don’t tell an SBC leader anything you don’t want splashed around in media, the state of your eternal soul matters less than scoring points."


For God's Sake, Shut Up! states:
Sometimes the ethical option for a pastor is to keep their mouth shut

I suspect we shall be hearing more critical commentary from Southern Baptist soon. The issue to me again is not so much Giuliani.

I am a big believer in the Priest/Penitent Clergy/lay person privilege. That legal privilege is under attack by many people. This does not help.
Also as I stated I am fighting for Christians and their leaders to be heard and consulted in the public square. This breach just gives those that oppose that ammunition.

Dr Page needs to be spanked by his fellow Southern Baptist and soon.