As a Christian author, gospel singer and leader of one of the nation's best-known black megachurches, Bishop Eddie Long finds a wide audience for messages such as marriage is "between one man and one woman." Those words hung heavy Wednesday over accusations that the TV preacher, a married father of four, used jewelry, cars and cash to lure three young men into sexual relationships.
Lawsuits filed Tuesday and Wednesday say the young men were 17 or 18 years old at the time, enrolled in New Birth Missionary Baptist Church's ministry for teen boys.
A lawyer for Long, who writes books on heterosexual relationships and has strong ties to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s family, adamantly denied the allegations. Few at Long's 25,000-strong church will discuss the situation, and the grounds were quiet Wednesday save for a small group walking in prayer. But those who will speak say they are supporting him.
From the Southern Poverty Law Center:
"Men can look attractive when they are dirty," writes Bishop Eddie Long in his 1997 book I Don't Want Delilah, I Need You! "We see sweating, dirty, hardworking men on television all the time and we say to one another, 'There's a macho guy.'"
Despite this affinity for sweaty, macho men, Long is one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement.
....
Much of what appears in I Don't Want Delilah was espoused in the videotaped "Back to the Future” sermon Long gave when his church was still small."It is the most unattractive thing I have ever seen, when I see women wearing uniforms that men would wear, and women fighting to get in the military!" Long shouted to his congregation then. "The woman gets perverted to turn towards woman … and everybody knows it's dangerous to enter an exit! And everybody knows, lady, if you go to the store and buy these devices [marital aids], it's Memorex! It ain't real!"
The audience, seated in a congested sanctuary, erupts in laughter. But what Long says next is no joke."God says you deserve death!"
I wonder. Did the congregation laugh when Pastor Eddie said those words?
Many bloggers have already written about Bishop Eddie Long. I don't have further wisdom to contribute to the subject, but I remain amazed that homophobic leaders don't learn from the example of the ever-lengthening line of the like-minded in high positions who have taken mighty falls.
The Counseling Ministry at the church lists a class in "Sexuality Discipleship".
“Out of the Wilderness” – Confidential counsel and discipleship of men and women struggling with homosexuality. Counselors provide caring support to individuals who desire healing and deliverance through the Word of God.
You can't make this stuff up.
Back to Yahoo News.
Lance Robertson, who joined New Birth nearly two decades ago and has coached youth basketball there, said Wednesday that members were hurting.
"I support and will stand with my bishop, but right now in the court of public opinion, it does not look good," Robertson said. "This affects too many people. As the bishop goes, New Birth goes. He built New Birth."
I wonder how many of the megachurches prosper and grow principally due to the influence of a charismatic pastor. What happens to the churches when the pastor moves on for one reason or another?
UPDATE: Photo lifted from Box Turtle Bulletin. I hope Jim Burroway doesn't mind.
Bishop Eddie Long's humble abode.
"Men can look attractive when they are dirty." What to say? It's not that the signs were not there to see.
ReplyDeletewv "elsid". The guy Charlton Heston played, I guess.
Yes. Where was everyone? Looking the other way, I guess.
ReplyDelete"Elsid" sounds like a name of a hobbit, to me.
Bishop Long was under investigation by the Senate for financial irregularities in 2007 along with six other televangelists, including one called Creflo Dollar.
ReplyDeleteAnd good ole Creflo Dollar. Much here not to be believed.
ReplyDeleteAnd who amongst us can help but feel a bit of Schadenfreude? Speak up if you're around.
Well, I know I do.
ReplyDeleteCathy, I should have known that you were not amongst the innocent.
ReplyDeleteOne of those who protest too much, me thinks.
ReplyDeleteNot you and Caathy, but the "bishop."
ReplyDeleteAmelia, there seem to be a good many of that kind around.
ReplyDeleteI believe I can speak for Cathy, too, when I say that we would never think you were talking about US.
"The little purple pill called Elsid. Do not drive while taking Elsid. Avoid alcoholic beverages while taking Elsid. A small percentage of those taking Elsid have reported spontaneous and severe death. Elsid can be very needy, and a small percentage of users have had to get restraining orders. May cause stigmata in Catholics."
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think we're missing the sad fact (being serious, for the moment) that the reason all these fundy pastors who are gay condemn gays as perverts and predators is that their only experience of homosexuality is their own sexuality. If I lived in that airless coccoon of fundamentalism in which "I can't be gay!" and was constantly repressing it and refusing to realize that my own relationship/sexual difficulties were simply part of the larger human spectrum of sexuality, I, too, would probably see the whole thing as evidence of homosexuality as cosmic wrongness, perversion of the soul.
Mark, in the serious part of your comment, I think you may be right on target.
ReplyDeleteThese pictures---"Look at me (in my marble bathroom) in my UnderArmour, my beauties!"---crack me up (In the "Ew, I have spork out my eyeballs now!" }-X kinda way). Is that Schadenfreude enough?
ReplyDeleteWell, if you think it's only the serious part, you've never taken Elsid.
ReplyDeletewv: hothoom - an Entish come-on
JCF, more than enough. Stop!
ReplyDeleteMark, I've never taken Elsid. I thought Elsid was a hobbit.
Elsid's not here, anyway - he's been pulled by that Ent.
ReplyDeleteEr, Cathy, Elsid is a girl hobbit. Didn't you know?
ReplyDeleteMimi, when you met Elsid he was wearing a kilt.
ReplyDeletewv - bicist - I believe Elsid may be a bicist.
I like the way this thread has gone from being about a secretly gay bogus fundamentalist Bishop to a bisexual hobbit having a gay old time with a frisky Ent.
ReplyDeleteKilt or no, Elsid may be a bicist, but she is a girl hobbit. I should know. I created her.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying you took a peek under Elsid's kilt, Mimi? ... Was that after a few sips at the old single malt, by any chance? ...
ReplyDeleteCathy, indeed not! I just know these things.
ReplyDeletePeople in positions of authority, especially religious authority, should be held to higher standard of conduct in regards to sexual conduct with minors. I remember talking with a young girl who had been molested by her pastor. She said, "he didn't have a gun or a knife but when I looked at him I was terrified and just knew I had to do what he said."
ReplyDeleteThe offender may not threaten the child with physical violence but the influence they have is much stronger. The child believes that the religious figure somehow knows best and they must do as asked or their eternal life may be threatened. It was heartbreaking to hear the girl's story.
BTW the religious empire the person has created usually crumbles.
Two Auntees, you are so right. When clergy are guilty of abuse, they are all the more culpable, because youngsters may think that they must be obeyed.
ReplyDeleteBTW the religious empire the person has created usually crumbles.
I expect so.
The bathroom pictures certainly don't help where the claims of innocence are concerned. I gather that he's due to make a statement this evening. There again, he was due to make a statement yesterday, wasn't he? So we'll see. And not expect too much. Sunday, the weeping congregation shots - all the folks, as a very Christian colleague of mine said when Jimmy Swagart came to grief first time around, who thought that they were "the only one".
ReplyDeleteI won't hold my breath waiting for the bishop's statement, although it could well be blogworthy.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the Bishop not only is on the down low, but is also a gymn queen.
ReplyDelete"The accusations center on the LongFellows Youth Academy, an exclusive group of teenage boys handpicked by Bishop Long for spiritual mentoring" - from today's NYT.
ReplyDeleteLongFellows! Can't make it up, for sure.
The low humor keeps a-comin'.
ReplyDeleteCan't make it up.
I expect it's just a coincidence that one of the more popular gay bars here in Portland is on Longfellow Square... Wonder if the Bishop has been there?
ReplyDeleteI do hope what you said about the picture at the end of the post isn't true...
ReplyDeleteWade, coincidences abound.
ReplyDeleteGöran, the picture shows Long's estate. What I said is true.