Ed Litton’s Little White-Collar Lies

Last updated on: September 19, 2021 at 11:39 am by Esther O’Reilly

Ed Litton’s Little White-Collar Lies 2021-09-19T11:39:25-04:00 Esther O’Reilly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Southern Baptist Convention president Ed Litton resurfaced on Twitter this past week after the release of a new interview where he discusses the fallout of his sermon plagiarism scandal. The accusations, which were originally limited to a single J. D. Greear sermon, quickly ballooned until it became embarrassingly apparent that Litton was stealing work verbatim on a mass scale, not just from Greear but from Tim Keller. So complete was the theft that original footage of Greear could be perfectly overlaid and synchronized with Litton’s “covers,” even down to personal anecdotes and side jokes. To make things worse, it further emerged that Litton’s co-pastor Taylor Anderson was practicing the sincerest form of flattery and likewise “borrowing” from Greear.

Yet even now, in the face of this overwhelmingly damning public evidence, Litton resolutely continues to deny any wrongdoing. The best that could be said of him at this point is that he is unconditionally committed to his own bullshit. In this latest interview, he insists that he didn’t plagiarize but reluctantly confesses there might have been “sin” in “not crediting J. D.” (This prompted Jake Meador to tweet in all caps “THAT IS WHAT PLAGIARISM IS!” I give props to Jake for consistently calling BS here.) Litton goes on to say he’s currently “fasting” from other pastors’ sermon content, since, he smirks, he seems to have a “problem” with “remembering what he hears.” Ha, ha.

In an earlier interview, he told a long seminary story about a fellow student who compulsively cited every source in a sermon for a class. The professor had told the student that when a miner digs out a diamond, he displays the diamond, not the pickaxe and shovel he used to dig it out. The point finally being that Litton seems to think his is an analogous situation.

Either that, or he knows perfectly well that it’s not. He just calculates that he has enough blue sky and crony cred to get away with it.

The sad thing is, he might not be wrong. The loudest voices currently calling him on the carpet are to his disfavored right. And he’s fresh off a presidential win that was hailed as something of a coup. Removing him from ministry now would throw that fight wide open again, launching a yet-more-bitter turf war where the specter of a Mike Stone victory would loom even larger. And who with any leverage in the SBC right now wants that?

If I sound angry about this, it’s because I am. I’m an Anglican, so technically I shouldn’t have a dog in this particular internecine Southern Baptist fight. But it always disturbs me when I see misconduct this blatant excused and enabled in broad daylight by people who claim to be Christians. The hypocrisy is especially grating from the sort who harp endlessly on Public Witness, etc. How is it good for our Public Witness to wink at the sort of thing that can get students kicked out of seminary? The sort of thing we penalize high schoolers for at the school where I teach, including students from tough blue-collar backgrounds? We don’t give them a pass. We set standards for them, in hopes that this will guide and shape their character.

The operative word here being “character.”

Part of what’s at work here, I think, is that certain evangelicals are only tuned in to particular frequencies of sin. They’re attuned to spectacular falls from grace due to sexual scandal, but “white-collar sins,” white-collar lies, slip under their radar.

To give another example, I could name prominent voices in evangelical New Testament scholarship who have equivocated and at moments outright lied in presenting their research, in order to keep up an illusory narrative of their views for their evangelical audience. One in particular who, when profound flaws in his book-length thesis were exposed and refuted at length, was unable to handle the criticism, resorting to cheap credentialism and sneering dismissal. But, as with Litton, this apologist has nobody in his tribe willing to hold him accountable and demand a higher level of scholarly integrity. Meanwhile, since it involves questions of biblical scholarship, it takes a certain amount of time to tease out and explain precisely wherein lies that lack of integrity. A general audience who can immediately grasp the sensational shock of a cheating pastor is going to tune out halfway through such an explanation.

But integrity matters, in all spheres. Honesty matters, in all spheres. Christian ministers, scholars and apologists are called to model what they preach, and if they can’t do so consistently, they are called to remove themselves from their pedestal before they bring yet more shame to the name of Christ. This applies equally to the philanderer, the sermon plagiarizer, and the academic fraud. We do nobody any favors, least of all sinners themselves, by focusing only on the splashiest and sexiest sins while sins no less corrosive and deadly get a pass by virtue of dullness.

If our evangelical institutions had any integrity, Ed Litton would have been invited to step down from his presidency and perhaps even his pulpit months ago. The people who had backed him as a candidate would publicly mourn and call for accountability. The people who had built their lives around working for him would likewise mourn, then take their gifts and callings elsewhere where they could be employed in the service of men who deserve them.

If. If only.

Previous Post

August 30, 2021

Dan Darling and the Poisoned COVID Discourse

Next Post

November 22, 2021 Kyle Rittenhouse Was No Fool

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 3 star 3.5 star 4 star 4.5 star Anatomy of a Song Behind the Songs Blog Stuff Book Reviews CCM CCM vs. SG CD Reviews Christians in Entertainment Christmas Essential 12 Christmas Favorites Christmas Top Fives Concert Reviews Concerts Culture Devotional Thoughts Faith and Culture From the Vault Fun Gospel Singers Gospel Songs Great Music Guest Posts Harmony Master Classes History Holidays Humor Hymns Interviews Marriage in the Movies Monday Morning Humor Movie Reviews Movies Music NQC Odds and Ends Old Movies, New Eyes Old Southern Gospel News Old Stuff Open Threads Other Genres Perfect Tenor Performances Polls Questions and Answers Recently Added SG vs. The Rest of the World Sing It Again Songs Songwriting Southern Gospel Surprise Sunday The Definitive Hymns Theology Toe-to-Toe Top 10 Lists Top 5 Top 5 Lists Two Sisters Review Uncategorized Video Posts Youtube Finds

Select a Month August 2026 February 2025 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 October 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 March 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 April 2018 September 2017 August 2017 May 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the first king of Judah after Israel split?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jeroboam Rehoboam Asa Ahab