Religion: Worshipers on A Holy Roll

Scandals and Swaggart fail to deter the Assemblies of God

"To allow a preacher of the Gospel, when he is caught beyond the shadow of a doubt committing an immoral act . . . to remain in his position as pastor (or whatever), would be the most gross stupidity." Under the rules of the Assemblies of God, such a sinner must be suspended from preaching for one year and put on probation for a second year, or else there is a danger that the "whole church will be destroyed."

When the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart wrote those sentiments in articles over the past 15 months in his magazine the Evangelist, he obviously...

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