Another megachurch gay scandal

[TheLibertarian]

This time in the "black church", interestingly enough.

As Bishop Eddie Long poked through a salad in his church office one summer day in 1999, he shot a weary look at a person ticking off his ministry's successes.

His Atlanta megachurch had already reached 25,000 members. He had been invited to the White House, built a global television ministry and drove around town in a $350,000 Bentley.

But Long told the visitor who had come to write about him that the pressures of being a high-profile pastor could be brutal.

"You don't want any of this," he said in a raspy baritone as he shook his head. "You don't want any of this ..."

Long didn't get more specific about those pressures.

Today, the 57-year-old minister, known for his public crusades against homosexuality, faces serious allegations.

On Tuesday, two young men who were members of Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church filed lawsuits claiming he used his position as their spiritual counselor to coerce them into sexual relationships.

See PDF of lawsuit filed by Maurice Robinson

The men -- Anthony Flagg, 21, and Maurice Robinson, 20 -- allege Long used a private spiritual ceremony to mark a "covenant" between them, with both becoming his "spiritual son."

See PDF of lawsuit filed by Anthony Flagg

Flagg alleges that Long then used that relationship to take him on overnight trips where they shared a bedroom and engaged in kissing, masturbation and "oral sexual contact."

Robinson, who claimed Long engaged in oral sex with him, said the pastor would cite scripture to justify their relationship.

"We categorically deny the allegations," Art Franklin, Long's spokesman, said in a written statement. "It is very unfortunate that someone has taken this course of action."

Franklin said "our law firm will be able to respond once attorneys have had an opportunity to review the lawsuit."

The young men's lawyer, Brenda Joy (B.J.) Bernstein, would not make them available for comment.

Long's crusades against homosexuality

The allegations against Long run contrary to his public image.

He is a celebrity preacher in the black church world and a star in the evangelical world as well. His church is one of the largest in the country.

In the pulpit, Long seamlessly blends muscle and ministry.

He wears tight shirts that display his weight-lifter arms. He writes books such as "Gladiator, the Strength of a Man," that teaches men how to be warriors for God. He says he has a special calling to reach out to men.

He's a married man who preaches about the sanctity of the union between a man and a woman. He denounces homosexuality. In 2004, he led a march in Atlanta against gay marriage. He once declared that his church had created a ministry that "delivered" people from homosexuality.

His public statements about gays and lesbians have helped reinforce homophobia in the black church, says Shayne Lee, a sociologist and author of "Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace."

"The homophobic atmosphere he helped perpetuate," Lee said, could "come back to possibly harm him."

Long's controversial ministry

Long has been the center of public controversy before.

In 2005, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that a charity Long created to help the poor and spread the Gospel had made him its biggest beneficiary.

An examination of the nonprofit's tax returns and other documents revealed that the charity provided him with at least a million dollars in salary over four years, and the use of a $1.4 million home and the $350,000 Bentley.

A frequent critic of black preachers (he once said they "major in storefront churches"), Long responded by saying he was a CEO of a global business who deserved his lifestyle.

The homophobic atmosphere he helped create could come back to possibly harm him.

"You've got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that's supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering," Long said, explaining the compensation he received from his charity.

In 2007, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to Long asking detailed questions about his financial operations. Long was one of six televangelists who Grassley targeted.

After an initial flurry of publicity following Grassley's request, the investigation appeared to peter out.

Read more stories about faith on CNN'S Belief Blog

In recent years, Long seemed to become more humble, says Rev. Tim McDonald, senior pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta.

In private talks, McDonald said, Long told him about the pressures of leading a megachurch. He said he no longer had as many close friendships and yearned to return to the more intimate relationships that McDonald seemed to have with his much smaller congregation.

"He said, 'Tim, I may have the numbers, but you have the love,' '' McDonald said.

God's 'scarred leader'

For all his outward confidence, Long also displayed a vulnerable side.

He built an intimate bond with many members of his church by talking about his private failings: his divorce from his first wife; being rejected by his father; and being fired from a job in corporate America.

He called himself God's "scarred leader."

He also became known for his generosity. He would give out cars and money to strangers at church services. He built ministries to help the poor, AIDS patients and young people.

He talked proudly about his ability to reach young men. He called himself a "spiritual daddy" to many of the young men he mentored at New Birth.

He would pay the college tuition for some men, give business suits to others and play basketball and lift weights with his male ministers.

Once, he even boasted to the Journal Constitution that some mothers at New Birth trusted him enough to bring their wayward teenage boys to him for paddling.

"When I say bend over, even on Sunday, they bend over," he said, referring to the boys he paddled. "Why? Because they respect me. Because I first died for them..."

The two men who filed suit against Long, though, said he used their relationships to instruct them, as "spiritual sons," to follow their "master."

They also say Long enticed them "with cars, clothes, jewelry, and electronics." Robinson says the pastor paid for his college tuition.

In Flagg's suit, he claimed that when some young men found girlfriends, Long would attempt to block those relationships by "increased contact and spiritual talk" about "the covenant between the Spiritual Son and himself."

In addition to Long, the lawsuits name as defendants his church and a youth academy where Long was pastor and mentor. Both suits seek unspecified punitive damages on counts ranging from negligence to breach of fiduciary duty.

Lee, the Tulane sociologist who has written about Long, says he expects him to mount a fierce counterattack.

"He'll demonize the accusers," Lee said, "and couch it in terms of how the enemy Satan is trying to hurt the ministry."

This is, to my knowledge, the first of this sort of scandal to really hit a church oriented primarily at African-Americans. And I'm given to understand that homosexuality among the black community is possibly less acceptable than amongst whites, given the prevalence of such things as being on the "down-low". I wonder what the precise reaction to this will be among those quarters?

[Slopeshoulder]

always believing God intends them to be straight, believing that being gay is a choice.

Yep, except I would change your statement to gay activities are a choice. Having a same-sex attraction isn't a choice, neither is being tempted to adultery, alcoholism, pedophilia, etc. Temptation isn't a sin, giving in to it is. It is always possible to do the will of God.

Except that God doesn't care about gay, being or doing. God makes gay. You can read other Christian thinkers who agree with me. The being/action distinction is specious and narrows god's love while misunderstanding scripture and tradition and reason...

Or else they are just lying hypocrites addicted power and money who don't believe a word of it.

Either way they're asshats in my book. Except they make fundies look (more) like morons, so I like them for that. So it's a wash.

I get it, you hate Christianity. As John Calvin said, "The Gospel cannot be published without instantly driving the world to rage."

Predictable drivel. You're confusing biblicist fundamentalism with Christianity.
The facts: I am born, baptised, raised, educated, confirmed, as a christian. Had a month semi-evangelical phase in my youth after a jayne mansfield lookalike dumped me that I read and thought my way out of (I basically decided that francis schaeffer and josh macdowell were dangerous psychos). I earned a BA in religious studies and philosophy from a good catholic school. Seminary grad too. Studied the gospel several hours per day with Richard B Hays among others. Member of christian user groups here, including the HH. Started reading Olivier Clement last night. Ordered me up some James Alison and Bede Griffiths too. Spent an hour on the phone yesterday with a centering prayer (keating) outreach guy (a good friend) speaking about keating's method. Still trying to understand Pannikar. Spent the morning on Amazon expanding my wish list of post-modern theology books, some about or by my old (ordained) profs. Wife is ordained and has three religion degrees. Looking for a religion school, order, or think tank to leave my money to. Can't get enough of them Christian msytics. Checked out the Universal Anglican Church last night online (a friend is being ordained). I have the Cloud of Unknowing on my nitestand and I'll get to it as soon as I finish reading about Byzantium and O. Clement. I've been a strategy and brand marketing consultant to churches, as well as a church-based guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist. I like U2. I want to retire to a monastary (assuming I can find one on the shores of Lake Como). I do workshops and co-write books having to do with spirit wellness for the 21st century (www.spiritfulliving.com). I'm all about serving the poor in spirit (except fundies; they can rot).
Net, I like Christianity, when it isn't hijacked by fundies. It's my lens. And I fight for it against all extremes.

I also love several other religions, but in one lifetime I only get to scratch the surface with them through friends, books, experiences. I describe myself as a hyphenated, post-modern Christian mystic and funk bass player.

But I admit that I do abhor (but never hate) calvinist, barthian, paleo-orthodox, literalist, biblicist, exclusionary, triumphalist, retrograde, christo-centric, christo-fascist, biblio-centric, biblio-idolatrous, homo-phobic, god's-a-banker, and arrogant versions of Christianity. And for some reason, I also disagree vehemently with every one of your posts I've glossed over so far.

So watch who you try to exclude and don't talk about what you don't know. YOU don't get to decide who is and isn't Christian, or what I personally love or hate. Better to keep your mouth shut. Instead, maybe read some of my other posts. I eat fundies for breakfast, and I do it as a Christian.
You can PM me an apology. I'm Christian, so I'll forgive, while continuing to "hate" the sin.

[Lux]

Moderator Comment

I get it, you hate Christianity. As John Calvin said, "The Gospel cannot be published without instantly driving the world to rage."

It's inappropriate to accuse a member, especially one who defines himself as a christian, of hating Christianity. Stick to debating the topic and avoid personal comments.

[East of Eden]

Except that God doesn't care about gay, being or doing.

Numerous Bible passages would disagree with that.

God makes gay.

No, that disorder was one of the effects of the fall. Satan can't create anything good, but he can take something good (sex) and pervert it. Thankfully there is hope and change through Jesus Christ. "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." I. Cor. 6:11

You can read other Christian thinkers who agree with me.

Yes, and I would disagree with them also, as you would the vast majority of Christians now and throughout history who agree with me.

The being/action distinction is specious and narrows god's love while misunderstanding scripture and tradition and reason...

So are Christians free to act on any impulse that strikes them? You disregard parts of the Bible you don't like, how do we know the ones that describe God's love are accurate?

Predictable drivel. You're confusing biblicist fundamentalism with Christianity.
The facts: I am born, baptised, raised, educated, confirmed, as a christian. Had a month semi-evangelical phase in my youth after a jayne mansfield lookalike dumped me that I read and thought my way out of (I basically decided that francis schaeffer and josh macdowell were dangerous psychos). I earned a BA in religious studies and philosophy from a good catholic school. Seminary grad too. Studied the gospel several hours per day with Richard B Hays among others. Member of christian user groups here, including the HH. Started reading Olivier Clement last night. Ordered me up some James Alison and Bede Griffiths too. Spent an hour on the phone yesterday with a centering prayer (keating) outreach guy (a good friend) speaking about keating's method. Still trying to understand Pannikar. Spent the morning on Amazon expanding my wish list of post-modern theology books, some about or by my old (ordained) profs. Wife is ordained and has three religion degrees. Looking for a religion school, order, or think tank to leave my money to. Can't get enough of them Christian msytics. Checked out the Universal Anglican Church last night online (a friend is being ordained). I have the Cloud of Unknowing on my nitestand and I'll get to it as soon as I finish reading about Byzantium and O. Clement. I've been a strategy and brand marketing consultant to churches, as well as a church-based guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist. I like U2.

That makes two of us, I've seen them in concert many times.

I want to retire to a monastary (assuming I can find one on the shores of Lake Como). I do workshops and co-write books having to do with spirit wellness for the 21st century (www.spiritfulliving.com). I'm all about serving the poor in spirit (except fundies; they can rot).
Net, I like Christianity, when it isn't hijacked by fundies. It's my lens. And I fight for it against all extremes.

I also love several other religions, but in one lifetime I only get to scratch the surface with them through friends, books, experiences. I describe myself as a hyphenated, post-modern Christian mystic and funk bass player.

But I admit that I do abhor (but never hate) calvinist, barthian, paleo-orthodox, literalist, biblicist, exclusionary, triumphalist, retrograde, christo-centric, christo-fascist, biblio-centric, biblio-idolatrous, homo-phobic, god's-a-banker, and arrogant versions of Christianity. And for some reason, I also disagree vehemently with every one of your posts I've glossed over so far.

The feeling is mutual.

So watch who you try to exclude and don't talk about what you don't know. YOU don't get to decide who is and isn't Christian, or what I personally love or hate. Better to keep your mouth shut. Instead, maybe read some of my other posts. I eat fundies for breakfast, and I do it as a Christian.
You can PM me an apology. I'm Christian, so I'll forgive, while continuing to "hate" the sin.

I don't have to PM you, I'll apologize here. I must have been confused by your calling fellow Christians asshats and morons. I'll rephrase it, you abhor Bible-believers. Funny, Jesus was one of those.

[Slopeshoulder]

Except that God doesn't care about gay, being or doing.

Numerous Bible passages would disagree with that.

By your interpretation and that of others of your ilk. But I only wish to assure readers that thinkers, exegetes, theologians, and philosophers who are greatly respected feel otherwise. You could start with The Good Book by Harvard's Peter Gomes, voted america's best preacher.

God makes gay.

No, that disorder was one of the effects of the fall. Satan can't create anything good, but he can take something good (sex) and pervert it. Thankfully there is hope and change through Jesus Christ. "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." I. Cor. 6:11

More literalist, circular, homophibic nonsense that is dismissed by the thinkers I refer to. You're misquoting Paul out of context BTW.

You can read other Christian thinkers who agree with me.

Yes, and I would disagree with them also, as you would the vast majority of Christians now and throughout history who agree with me.

This is a fallacy and adds nothing. It's also irrelevant. Headcounts usually reinforce dumb, based on the bell curve, and christians, like everyone else, believed all kinds of claptrap until learning and discernment (and possibly the holy spirit) advanced. I'm not interested in what the majority have thought; I'm interested in what the smartest and most insightful think and teach.
BTW, on what basis would you disagree with them if you haven't read them? What argument would you bring that is not circular, biblicist, and not based on misinterpretation and misuse of scripture?

The being/action distinction is specious and narrows god's love while misunderstanding scripture and tradition and reason...

So are Christians free to act on any impulse that strikes them? You disregard parts of the Bible you don't like, how do we know the ones that describe God's love are accurate?

Wrong again. I don't measure it based on accuracy but rather on usefulness. And I don't pick what I like, I rely on the learning and teaching of experts I respect to help me discern what it says and how it might be applied today. I consider the bible but one religious resource for ethical discernment, as I think wouod have been clear, and useless without expert exegesis. This is how I arrived at my pro-prostitution argument that I outline in another recent thread. Check it out! Please don't impute your own apparently one dimensional exegetical method to me.

Predictable drivel. You're confusing biblicist fundamentalism with Christianity.
The facts: I am born, baptised, raised, educated, confirmed, as a christian. Had a month semi-evangelical phase in my youth after a jayne mansfield lookalike dumped me that I read and thought my way out of (I basically decided that francis schaeffer and josh macdowell were dangerous psychos). I earned a BA in religious studies and philosophy from a good catholic school. Seminary grad too. Studied the gospel several hours per day with Richard B Hays among others. Member of christian user groups here, including the HH. Started reading Olivier Clement last night. Ordered me up some James Alison and Bede Griffiths too. Spent an hour on the phone yesterday with a centering prayer (keating) outreach guy (a good friend) speaking about keating's method. Still trying to understand Pannikar. Spent the morning on Amazon expanding my wish list of post-modern theology books, some about or by my old (ordained) profs. Wife is ordained and has three religion degrees. Looking for a religion school, order, or think tank to leave my money to. Can't get enough of them Christian msytics. Checked out the Universal Anglican Church last night online (a friend is being ordained). I have the Cloud of Unknowing on my nitestand and I'll get to it as soon as I finish reading about Byzantium and O. Clement. I've been a strategy and brand marketing consultant to churches, as well as a church-based guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist. I like U2.

That makes two of us, I've seen them in concert many times.

Rock on. me too. Well, only 3: '88 and '09 (2x). I love the music and I think very few people understand the profound subtle Christian themes in Bono's lyrics. he is the man.

I want to retire to a monastary (assuming I can find one on the shores of Lake Como). I do workshops and co-write books having to do with spirit wellness for the 21st century (www.spiritfulliving.com). I'm all about serving the poor in spirit (except fundies; they can rot).
Net, I like Christianity, when it isn't hijacked by fundies. It's my lens. And I fight for it against all extremes.

I also love several other religions, but in one lifetime I only get to scratch the surface with them through friends, books, experiences. I describe myself as a hyphenated, post-modern Christian mystic and funk bass player.

But I admit that I do abhor (but never hate) calvinist, barthian, paleo-orthodox, literalist, biblicist, exclusionary, triumphalist, retrograde, christo-centric, christo-fascist, biblio-centric, biblio-idolatrous, homo-phobic, god's-a-banker, and arrogant versions of Christianity. And for some reason, I also disagree vehemently with every one of your posts I've glossed over so far.

The feeling is mutual.

So watch who you try to exclude and don't talk about what you don't know. YOU don't get to decide who is and isn't Christian, or what I personally love or hate. Better to keep your mouth shut. Instead, maybe read some of my other posts. I eat fundies for breakfast, and I do it as a Christian.
You can PM me an apology. I'm Christian, so I'll forgive, while continuing to "hate" the sin.

I don't have to PM you, I'll apologize here. I must have been confused by your calling fellow Christians asshats and morons. I'll rephrase it, you abhor Bible-believers. Funny, Jesus was one of those.[/quote]

No, I abhor biblical literalists, reductionsists, and abusers, and Jesus was not one of those. I admit that I consider fundies asshats and morons, although offline I use other much less nice words for 'em.

Let's end it there, I'm trying to enforce a self-inlicted law not to discuss much with fundies and people who don't have an elite education to bring to bear. It's just a choice I make.

[East of Eden]

More literalist, circular, homophibic

Stop the name-calling. Evangelicals don't fear active gays, we think their immoral behavior to be wrong.

nonsense that is dismissed by the thinkers I refer to. You're misquoting Paul out of context BTW.

No, I'm not.

This is a fallacy and adds nothing. It's also irrelevant. Headcounts usually reinforce dumb, based on the bell curve, and christians, like everyone else, believed all kinds of claptrap until learning and discernment (and possibly the holy spirit) advanced. I'm not interested in what the majority have thought; I'm interested in what the smartest and most insightful think and teach.
BTW, on what basis would you disagree with them if you haven't read them?

I've very familiar with revisionist theology. My church left the Episcopal Church which is full of bad liberal theology. Not surprisingly, they're a rapidly dying denomination.

What argument would you bring that is not circular, biblicist, and not based on misinterpretation and misuse of scripture?

Exactly how I would describe revisionist theology, save for the biblicist part.

Wrong again. I don't measure it based on accuracy but rather on usefulness. And I don't pick what I like, I rely on the learning and teaching of experts I respect to help me discern what it says and how it might be applied today. I consider the bible but one religious resource for ethical discernment, as I think wouod have been clear, and useless without expert exegesis. This is how I arrived at my pro-prostitution argument that I outline in another recent thread. Check it out! Please don't impute your own apparently one dimensional exegetical method to me.

I'll stick with Scripture, tradition and reason. BTW, Scripture was the primary part of that three-legged stool.

No, I abhor biblical literalists, reductionsists, and abusers, and Jesus was not one of those. I admit that I consider fundies asshats and morons, although offline I use other much less nice words for 'em.

Let's end it there, I'm trying to enforce a self-inlicted law not to discuss much with fundies and people who don't have an elite education to bring to bear. It's just a choice I make.

You won't discover ultimate truth using fallen and finite human reason. As another Biblicist said, "Except you become as a little child, you will not enter the Kingdom". He also said, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?"

[East of Eden]

Rock on. me too. Well, only 3: '88 and '09 (2x). I love the music and I think very few people understand the profound subtle Christian themes in Bono's lyrics. he is the man.

More than subtle in many of their songs. '40' in my favorite. Some friends of mine at Wheaton College saw them in Chicago where U2 hung around for quite a bit afterwards talking to them, quite a bit about religion.