Wead-ing the lawn

Doug Wead is turning over his taped conversations with then-Governor Bush to now-President Bush. Seems that he has had a sudden attack of conscience, but only 7 years too late.

He states:

"Contrary to a statement that I made to the New York Times, I have come to realize that personal relationships are more important than history," Wead wrote in a letter to the show's host, Chris Matthews, that MSNBC released to the public on Wednesday. "I am asking my attorney to direct any future proceeds from the book to charity and to find the best way to vet these tapes and get them back to the president to whom they belong. History can wait."

Yesterday, Hugh Hewitt asked if there were any such thing as a theological justification for secretly taping phone conversations on the part of a "friend." Pastor Mark Daniels is the first to weigh in:

My answer as a pastor of twenty years, a student of the Bible, and the holder of a Master's of Divinity degree, is "No." I can think of no good reason for what Mr. Wead did.

While many delight in anything they perceive damages the President, there is a consensus among some that he comes out looking fairly good in the excerpts released to date. There is also a consensus as Hugh's question seems to make clear, that the one who comes out looking poorly here is the ex-pastor, Douglas Wead.

I agree with both of these conclusions, but I would add this to the discussion. What concerns me is how this potentially harms the Church (I mean this in the biggest, broadest sense as Christ used it in the gospels). Just as the excesses of Jim and Tammy Bakker and the surreptitious associations of Jimmy Swaggart damaged the name of Christ among unbelieving Americans, so does Mr. Wead's behavior.

Churched or un-churched, many people intuitively understand that what Wead did was un-ethical and improper. As people who already look at Christianity with a skeptical eye learn of his association with the Church, the taint spreads from Wead to the Church and these folks place the shortcomings of people in the Church squarely on the Church itself. Christ's name is tarnished in the process, and that breaks my heart.



UPDATE: Mark Daniels links-back to this post at Better Living. His email was quite kind and as I stated in reply, I thought it only fair since he helped 'inspire' the post and I was quoting him directly!