NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Southern Baptist Convention's ethics chief has been reprimanded and his radio show canceled after he made inflammatory comments about the Trayvon Martin case. Among other things, Richard Land accused President Barack Obama and other black leaders of shamefully exploiting Martin's death for political gain.
His comments upset many black Southern Baptist leaders, one of whom called for Land's resignation.
The controversy got more intense when a blogger revealed that Land's commentary was copied nearly verbatim from an editorial in the Washington Times.
After an investigation, the board of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission on Friday reprimanded Land for the comments and the plagiarism. Land, who is the commission's president, has previously apologized for both.
He declined to be interviewed.
