Baptist Accidentally Endorses Heretic

We've heard a lot of confessions of "personal errors" from conservative clergymen in recent months. Usually they involve things like getting tweaked on meth and fondling male prostitutes. But South Carolina pastor Don Wilton got caught very publicly doing something very repulsive: backing Mormon Scientologist Mitt Romney for president!

Last week, Romney's campaign issued a press release trumpeting the fact that another follower of the Nicene Creed had swallowed his pride and signed up for Team Mitt. Wilton said that although he and Mitt disagreed on the exact nature of the invisible imaginary beings who lived in the sky, they mostly had come to an understanding about all the things that actual real-life people (mostly the women and gays) shouldn't be allowed to do here on Earth. But then yesterday he was shown the error of his ways by the Baptist mafia or something, because he retracted his endorsement in a rambling press release that pretty much sounds like it was written with a gun held to his head:

While I did give my consent to the local campaign to use my affirmation of the Governor's stance on family values in my capacity as an individual citizen, I made the mistake of not realizing the extent to which it would be used on a national basis. It was my personal error to agree to support Romney's campaign ... While I will vote my constitutional right as an American citizen, and while I implore all eligible Americans to do the same, I will continue to use my personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ as the only standard by which I determine who to vote for in any election.

Actually, that last line makes it sound likeJesusis the one holding the gun to his head. Don't fuck with Jesus, people!

 Wilton: Romney endorsement a mistake [Baptist Press]