Hillary Clinton’s pastor, who sent her daily devotionals during her 2016 presidential campaign, has reportedly plagiarized content from another minister in his new book.
The book, titled Strong for a Moment Like This: The Daily Devotions of Hillary Rodham Clinton was released today, August 15. It is a compilation of the devotionals Clinton’s United Methodist pastor, the Rev. Bill Shillady, sent to her.
Clinton has fully backed Shillady’s new book and even wrote the foreword for it. She is also scheduled to speak at a promotional event for the book next month, according to CNN.com.
Shillady's new book has run into controversy, however, with allegations that he plagiarized a quotation from another minister.
One of the most poignant devotionals included in the book was one Shillady reportedly sent to Clinton the day after her presidential election loss. The devotional was titled “Sunday is Coming.”
The content of the devotional, as well as its title, bears striking similarities to a blog post written by the Rev. Matthew Deuel, pastor of Mission Point Community Church in Warsaw, Indiana.
Deuel’s blog post says, "For the disciples and Christ followers in the first century, Good Friday represented the day that everything fell apart. All was lost. The momentum and hope of a man, claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah who was supposed to change everything, had been executed.”
Shillady’s recently published devotional contains those exact words, as well as other portions of striking parallel. Although Shillady did include 11 pages of sources at the end of the book, Deuel’s blog post was not mentioned.
Shillady has reportedly apologized to Deuel. "In preparing the devotional on the morning of November 9, I was determined to provide comfort with the familiar adage that 'It's Friday But Sunday is Coming,’” said Shillady. “I searched for passages that offered perspective of this theme. I am now stunned to realize the similarity between Matt Deuel's blog sermon and my own. Clearly, portions of my devotional that day incorporate his exact words. I apologize to Matt for not giving him the credit he deserves."
Photo courtesy: Flickr.com
Publication date: August 15, 2017
