Family value advocate arrested for hiring a prostitute

I think it's time that every leader of any "family values" organization who is involved in prostitution, homosexual relationships or extra-marital affairs needs to step down right now. I'd say that it might be time for women to run these groups but I don't hold out much hope that they would not fall as well.

A longtime champion of family values once nominated as chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention's moral-concerns agency surprised citizens of North Carolina with his arrest last week on multiple charges of aiding and abetting prostitution.

"Hell has just frozen over," a state Democratic leader told a Raleigh newspaper editor after hearing news of the Thursday arrest of Coy Privette, 74, a retired Baptist pastor and four-term Republican legislator long associated with North Carolina's Christian Action League.

Privette was arrested the same day as suspected prostitute Tiffany Denise Summers, 32, who drew police attention after cashing suspicious checks from his checkbook. Investigators believe Privette paid Summers six times during the last two months for sex in hotel rooms he rented in Salisbury, N.C.

Privette is a past president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, which last year voted to ban membership to churches that accept gay people as members. He stepped down as a current member of the state convention's board of directors and executive committee following his arrest.

He also resigned after six years as president of the Christian Action League, a group formed to "discourage the promotion and use of beverage alcohol and other drugs, pornography, sexual immorality and other sinful practices that not only undermine the spiritual lives of those who participate in them, but also undermine the strength of our state and national character."

Privette previously served 15 years as the league's executive director, earning him the reputation as one of North Carolina's leading opponents of gambling and alcohol sales and making him a household name in the state's Baptist community.

"Because of the nature of the allegations, I believe it is in the best interest for me to resign so that the charges will not distract from the important work of the Christian Action League," Privette said in an e-mail posted on the league's Web site.

Um, I don't know. If the head of the organization is unable to abstain, how will others? I'm not trying to knock the group but I can't see how Christians can effectively promote "family values" when we fall into the temptation to sin. I would suggest that Christians and politicians might want to add disclaimers to their campaigns, something like this: "We know it's hard to abstain from alcohol, prostitution and drugs because we struggle just like you. We want to eliminate them from society but we fall prey to their temptations. We care about the issue but we are weak." I think that type of honesty would be a good idea and would be refreshingly honest and would be closer to the reality of the situation.

But what does any of this have to do with the gospel? Since when is the promotion of "family values" the business of the church? I thought the business of the church was to make disciples of all the nations. How is this making disciples? This is just imposing law (living up to some standard of "family values") and law that we ourselves can't keep.