"Louis" tells why Baptists need review boards

[Joanne98]

Mike Hogan, a mayoral candidate in Jacksonville, Florida, testified as a character witness for a Southern Baptist pastor who was convicted in 2007 of possessing child pornography. To this day, Hogan still doesn’t believe the man was guilty; he said so just last Tuesday in the Florida Times-Union.

The convicted man, Richard Steven Sweat, was a youth pastor at Lake Shore Baptist Church in Jacksonville, and Mike Hogan was active at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville. Both churches are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Hogan didn’t attend the 5-day trial and didn’t hear any of the evidence. Nevertheless, after Sweat was convicted, Hogan testified at the sentencing hearing and swore to the judge that he didn’t have “any reservation whatsoever” about Sweat’s innocence.

So given that Hogan hadn’t heard any of the evidence, why was he so certain of Sweat’s innocence? According to Hogan’s testimony, it was because he had known Sweat for 15 years, because Hogan’s son said Sweat was a person “of great character,” and because Sweat “was unashamed of his love for and his commitment to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

http://stopbaptistpredators.blogspot.com/

[DCKit]

1. Sweat “was unashamed of his love for ... his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Yeah, the Baby Jesus.

[Scottybeamer70]

2. I'm thinking

they are about to run out of excuses! But I do know of one church
member who was accused wrongly, and after crucial photos were shown
at his trial, it was quickly evident the girl was lying! She
obviously had been with another man.......or no one at all.
Of course, by that time, his reputation had been virtually destroyed!
It's easy to accuse...........