Which of the following dark revelations would most undermine your trust in a respected religious leader?
1. He had an affair.
2. While a patron at a restaurant, he used a racial slur after becoming angry at the waiter.
3. He is charged with tax evasion.
4. All are equally bad.— Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) October 12, 2018
I posted this survey on Twitter one hour ago. In that first hour, I’ve received twenty responses that span all four options.
So which action do you think is most unsettling, most critically undermining for the moral authority of a spiritual leader? Is it the sin of lust and betrayal that comes with infidelity? The sin of latent racist attitudes that boil to the surface in a moment of anger? The sin of a calculated attempt to subvert tax laws and the society they are intended to serve?
Or is it simply mistaken to identify one of these as the most unsettling revelation? Are all equally corrosive of spiritual leadership and character?