Dealing with Church leaders facing accusations of adultery and other sexual sins has always been a sensitive subject for Christians. One thing is clear, however: those who preach God's Words should always be held at high standards.
Almost half of Protestant pastors agree that their colleagues accused of sexual misconduct should stop performing their church duties for a certain period of time, according to a survey conducted by Nashville-based survey firm LifeWay Research.
Forty-seven percent of the 1,000 Protestant pastors surveyed through phone interviews asserted that erring ministers should step aside and let the investigations against them take their course.
Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research, said these figures show how pastors are willing to hold their own ranks accountable.
"Pastors believe church leaders should be held to high standards. They also want to protect themselves against allegations that could be false," Stetzer said in a statement.
"The Scripture says pastors must be above reproach. So it's not surprising that some want to see fallen pastors banned from ministry. Still, pastors are also people who talk about forgiveness regularly and, by and large, they want to see those who fall have a chance at restoration," he added.
However, a still significant number of pastors—31 percent or about a third of the respondents—are of the opinion that their colleagues linked to sexual transgressions can still perform their functions.
One in every five ministers, meanwhile, are still undecided as to how Church leaders accused of sexual sins should be treated.
The same study also found out that older pastors tend to be less tolerant of their erring colleagues compared to their younger counterparts. African-American ministers were also found to be more willing to let those charged with sexual misconduct perform their duties compared to white Church leaders.
More interestingly, a total of 73 percent of Protestant pastors surveyed believe that allegations of sexual sins against Church leaders must be kept in secret pending investigation.
Only 13 percent said the charges should be revealed to the entire congregation.
For renowned theologian John Piper, however, Christians have the clear obligation to expose the sexual sins of their church leaders.
"If someone was claiming Christ and His gospel, leading in the church, yet living in sexual sin, are we supposed to do something about that? The answer is a resounding yes from the Bible," Piper said in a recent podcast, as quoted by Charisma News.
