Willie McLaurin resigns as interim SBC Executive Committee president over false claims on resume

“McLaurin, who had claimed on his resume that he held degrees from North Carolina Central University, Duke University Divinity School and Hood Theological Seminary confessed to SBC EC leaders on Thursday that this was untrue.” - CPost

More at Baptist Press News and RNS.

Discussion

Search committees can, and should, ask for permission to pull transcripts from educational institutions and contact references. The ugly reality is that someone can survive a long time in "ministry" by being a good talker and doing little work, and checking actual qualifications is a key part of preventing this.

But that noted, it's interesting that alleged degrees from Duke and Hood (a United Methodist seminary) would hold much sway in the SBC. Not that this should disqualify anyone, but I'd have thought that with the conservative resurgence, that would have been neutral to negative, not positive, without extenuating circumstances.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Actually, Hood is a seminary of the A. M. E. Zion church rather than the United Methodist Church. Not sure that makes it much more conservative than Duke, however.