Hillary Clinton’s pastor apologized Monday after it was revealed he plagiarized another minister’s writings in a key part of his upcoming book — namely the email he sent Clinton the morning after she lost the election.
Rev. Bill Shillady made headlines last week when he released the email to Clinton, in which he compared her election defeat to Good Friday. The email is included in his latest book: Strong for a Moment Like This: The Daily Devotions of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“It is Friday, but Sunday is coming. This is not the devotional I had hoped to write. This is not the devotional you wish to receive this day,” he wrote.” While Good Friday may be the starkest representation of a Friday that we have, life is filled with a lot of Fridays.”
He then appeared to compare Clinton to Jesus Christ, saying that Good Friday appeared to end the hopes for “the Messiah who was supposed to change everything.”
“For the disciples and Christ’s 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,” he wrote.
However, CNN reported that the devotional has a significant resemblance to a blog post by Rev. Matthew Deuel — an Indiana pastor who contacted CNN after he read the email on the outlet’s website.
Compare this passage Deuel wrote to Shillady’s above:
“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.”
CNN offers another example, where Deuel wrote: “Death will be shattered. Hope will be restored. Redemption is coming. But first, we must live through the darkness and seeming hopelessness of Friday.”
Shillady meanwhile wrote to Clinton: “Death will be shattered. Hope will be restored. But first, we must live through the darkness and seeming hopelessness of Friday.”
Shillady later apologized to Deuel in a statement to CNN:
“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.’ 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.”
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY