Pastors and plagiarism: Why an old story is making timely new headlines
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” features analysis, fact checking and top headlines from the world of faith. Subscribe now to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr. at therossnews@gmail.com.
(ANALYSIS) Two decades ago, while serving as religion editor for The Oklahoman, I investigated allegations of plagiarism and faked endorsements by a prominent Baptist pastor who had written a book.
I still remember how angry the 2002 story made some church members — at me for reporting it.
“One thing great preachers enjoy about traveling is that they can hear other people preach,” Terry Mattingly wrote in a 2003 column on plagiarism and the pulpit. “But the American orator A.J. Gordon received a shock during an 1876 visit to England. Sitting anonymously in a church, he realized that the sermon sounded extremely familiar – because he wrote it.”
While plagiarism by pastors falls under the category of “nothing new under the sun” (see Ecclesiastes 1:9), the subject is making timely new headlines.
Prominent among them: a front-page “Sermongate” story this week by New York Times religion writer Ruth Graham.
Credit questions over past sermons by Ed Litton, the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, for the fresh interest in the subject.
Last week’s Weekend Plug-in pointed to related coverage by Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana and the Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner. Check out, too, Mattingly’s recent GetReligion podcast on the topic.
Even before the Litton controversy, Smietana produced an excellent story earlier this year headlined “‘If you have eyes, plagiarize’: When borrowing a sermon goes too far” with a related piece on “Why some preachers rely on holy ghostwriters and other pulpit helps.”
Also this week, Joshua Eaton reports for Sojourners that a “poem that has been a clarion call to honest and open conversations about injustice for many in progressive Christian circles was almost entirely plagiarized.”
Want a different take on sermons? Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt highlights the most popular pulpit topics of 2020, based on a Pew Research Center analysis.
The big three: COVID-19, the election and racism.
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. A horn-wearing ‘shaman.’ A cowboy evangelist. For some, the Capitol attack was a kind of Christian revolt: Washington Post religion writer Michelle Boorstein spent the past few months trying to answer a few crucial questions about the Capitol riot.
“The Jan. 6 insurrection obviously had a ton of Christian stuff going on, but what kind of Christian stuff?” Boorstein wanted to know. “And what kind of Christians?”
This story unpacks what she learned.
2. Promise Keepers tried to end racism 25 years ago. It almost worked: Christianity Today’s Daniel Silliman looks backward — and forward — in this compelling piece.
“The newest iteration of Promise Keepers is launching its first major event” this month, Silliman notes.
Expect to hear more about the Christian men’s movement gathering next weekend at AT&T Stadium, the Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
3. Zoom church for the deaf-blind: How the Jehovah's Witnesses are adapting: “While many churches have resumed in-person services, the Jehovah’s Witnesses remain completely virtual in their operations with no plans to reopen,” ReligionUnplugged’s own Liza Vandenboom Ashley reports.
“That strategy has posed new challenges for deaf and blind members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and created a zone of ongoing innovation.”
It’s a fascinating feature about a group that doesn’t always make a lot of headlines.
BONUS: The end of the U.S. Supreme Court term brought a slew of analysis about the impact of new Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s addition.
“It is on religion that Barrett has made the most noticeable impact in her eight months on the court,” the Washington Post’s Robert Barnes concludes. “She changed how the court ruled on objections to pandemic-related restrictions on worship.”
The Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin and Brent Kendall and the Los Angeles Times’ David Savage offer additional insight.
More Top Reads
• Miami’s KKK kidnapped him 100 years ago. His descendants returned to celebrate his life (by C. Isaiah Smalls II, Miami Herald)
• ‘The Chosen,’ dramatic TV series about Jesus, ends second season with 200 million total online views (by Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)
• Explainer: Who runs the Vatican while pope is hospitalized? (by Nicole Winfield, Associated Press)
• Former Trump official’s God-and-country nonprofit calls CRT a threat to ‘colorblind society’ (by Bob Smietana, Religion News Service)
• Why church can’t be the same after the pandemic (by Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today)
• Terrorists leading prison worship services, according to DOJ audit (by Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)
• She lost her husband in a beach accident. Her book tackles what it takes to heal (by Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service)
• Girl’s prayer at Florida collapse site leads to meeting with Biden (by Adriana Gómez Licón, AP)
• Holy road trip! NJ landmarks show the miracles and majesty of Catholicism (by Deena Yellin, NorthJersey.com)
• God and Country: Chattanooga churches celebrate July 4 with messages to fight for freedoms (by Wyatt Massey, Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• Presidential assassination in Haiti fails to stop VBS (by Erik Tryggestad, Christian Chronicle)
Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines
If you only read one religion headlines newsletter, please make it this one.
But if you have time for another one, I always enjoy Kelsey Dallas’ weekly roundup for the Deseret News.
Charging Station: In Case You Missed It
Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from Religion Unplugged.
• This entrepreneurial minister created a solution to provide clean water to rural Dominicans (by Erik Tryggestad)
• A history: 400 years of infighting in the Southern Baptist Convention (by Susan M. Shaw)
• Nashville 2021 redux: For Southern Baptists, sermons are how they get their work done (by Terry Mattingly)
• This humble Amish novelist has quietly sold more than 350,000 books and just dropped another title (by Michael Ray Smith)
• What does it mean to be denied the Eucharist? (by Timothy Gabrielli)
• U.S. Catholic bishops still can't agree on politicos and Holy Communion (by Terry Mattingly)
• Legal but unethical? This Catholic school fired a pregnant teacher for sex outside marriage (by Chelsea Langston Bombino)
• Vacation Bible School is back this summer, with a few changes (by Chloe Franklin)
The Final Plug
Three months ago, ReligionUnplugged’s Jillian Cheney came to my rescue when a problem with my left middle finger kept me from finishing this column one week.
Despite three rounds of antibiotics and a steroid, the infection has not gone away. My medical journey has taken me from my primary care doctor to a dermatologist to a hand surgeon to, now, an infectious disease specialist.
As of this week, I’m taking an expensive antifungal pill (monthly retail price of $2,500) that I hope will be the solution. Thankfully, my copay is only $10.
I truly appreciate everyone who has prayed for me.
A quick programming note: I’m taking a regularly scheduled week off, so Plug-in won’t be published next Friday. I’ll see you back in this same space in two weeks.
Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for Religion Unplugged and editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 15 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.