[Strategerist]

Latham, who has spoken out against homosexuality, asked the officer to join him in his hotel room for oral sex. Latham was arrested and his 2005 Mercedes automobile was impounded, Becker said.

This is why I don't think I'm completely crazy when I wonder about some of the people on FR who seem to have the most energy for homophobia.

[gondramB]

""I was set up. I was in the area pastoring to police.""

Maybe he is telling the truth.

But, in general, people who bash homosexuality in public (or drugs or adultery etc) but practice it in private should go take a long walk on a short pier.

[DeweyCA]

Good grief and how sad. I hope that his church will exercise correct biblical church discipline and relieve him of his duties/job.

[fso301]

Services this Sunday should be interesting

[jazusamo]

"I was set up. I was in the part pastoring police."

I've never heard it referred to as "pastoring" before.

[sweetliberty]

"I was set up. I was in the area pastoring to police."

Reminiscent of Bubba "mentoring" Monica. If I remember correctly, this was his church affiliation as well.

[csvset]

I wonder if this guy was inspired by the film, Browneye Mounting ?

[don-o]

his 2005 Mercedes automobile was impounded, Becker said.

Ministering from such a machine.....

Well there's new and improved techniques every day.

[PeterPrinciple]

If it is true, hold him to the fire. Unlike liberals who want to lower standards, I'm all for raising the standards.

[deport]

I suspect that Montgomery Gentry song Gone is applicable regarding this pastor's Job

This ain't no temporary, typical, tearful good-bye, uh uh uh
This ain't no breakin' up and wakin' up and makin' up one more time, uh uh uh
This is gone (gone) gone (gone) gone (gone) gone

Gone like a freight-train, gone like yesterday
Gone like a soldier in the civil war, bang bang
Gone like a '59 Cadillac
Like all the good things that ain't never coming back
She's gone (gone) gone (gone) gone (gone) gone, she's gone

[madprof98]

The Southern Baptist Convention is the nation's largest Protestant denomination.

Good thing they reminded us.

[csvset]

Mr. Latham

[sandan]

Was money involved, or was this simply asking a willing participant (or in this case, someone pretending to be willing) to later engage in private sex? If it's the latter, then this doesn't sit right with me. It sounds like an infringement of basic rights of speech and association.

[Rakkasan1]

hey, at least he wasn't engaged in 'tribal gaming' !

[linda_22003]

"I was set up. I was in the area pastoring to police."

First oral sex "wasn't having sexual relations". Now, it's "pastoring".

[MineralMan]

Here's a statement from the church where he is the pastor:

[bulldozer]

"I was set up. I was in the area pastoring to police."

Are we to always believe the police because they are never corrupt and Southern Babtist pastors are known to lie?

[apoc]

As an update:

From http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/5872642/detail.html


SBC Has No Plans To Remove Pastor


OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Southern Baptist Convention said Thursday it does not plan to remove a reverend from the convention's executive committee after he was arrested on charges of offering to engage in an act of lewdness.

Rev. Lonnie Latham, 59, senior pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church and a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee, was arrested Tuesday on an allegation that he propositioned a plainclothes police officer outside a hotel. He is accused of asking the officer to join him in his hotel room for oral sex, said police Capt. Jeffrey Becker.

"Typically when there's a moral failure of this sort, there's a voluntary resignation," Kenyn Cureton, vice president for convention relations, said Thursday. "If the charges are true, this is tragic news. I hope it's not true. But it doesn't look good, obviously. Certainly he and his church family are in our prayers."

Latham has supported a convention directive urging members to befriend gays and lesbians and try to convince them that they can become heterosexual "if they accept Jesus Christ as their savior and reject their 'sinful, destructive lifestyle."'

When he left Oklahoma County Jail Wednesday, he said he was pastoring to police when he was arrested and that he had been "set up."

The Nashville, Tenn.-based Southern Baptist Convention is the nation's largest Protestant denomination.

The lewdness charge carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.