Lawyer: Other Men Went On Trips With Pastor
Bishop Long To Address Allegations Sunday
Associated Press
by ERRIN HAINES
September 22, 2010ATLANTA — The pastor of a nationally known Atlanta-area megachurch took other young men on trips as part of a mentoring program but stands by his denial of claims that he had sex with three of them, a lawyer for the religious leader said Thursday. Bishop Eddie Long plans his first public response to the allegations Sunday during services at his 25,000-member church, attorney Craig Gillen said on the Tom Joyner Morning Show after Long canceled an interview with the nationally syndicated radio program.
In lawsuits filed this week, three men who were members of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church claimed Long coerced them into sexual relations with gifts including cars, cash and travel when they were 17 or 18 years old. The sprawling church in suburban Lithonia counts politicians, celebrities and the county sheriff among its members and hosted four U.S. presidents during the 2006 funeral of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow, Coretta Scott King. One of the claims in the lawsuits is that Long had sexual contact with the young men, who were enrolled in New Birth’s ministry for teen boys, during trips he took them on in the U.S. and abroad.
Gillen said the travel was part of a mentoring program that other young men also participated in. "The mentoring process involving travel is not exclusive to the three plaintiffs making these allegations," Gillen said. Gillen also read a statement from Long in which the pastor, a married father of four, said he’s anxious to respond to the allegations but that his lawyer has advised him not to yet.
"Let me be clear. The charges against me and New Birth are false," Long’s statement said. Gillen also said the three making the allegations were motivated by money…
I’m not a member of any active religious organization and I prefer to hold my own resolution of spiritual matters privately – mostly because I think it’s something each of has to reckon with [or not reckon with] on our own. But I’m always surprised when something like this comes up that my argument seems to me to be very "Christian." I don’t think living as Eddie Long lives, or dressing like he dresses, or wallowing in money and fame as he does, fits with my kind of Christianity. My immediate reaction is always the same – that the person is a Charlatan, taking advantage of the spiritual needs of others for their own gain or self aggrandizement. I want to make "Christian" arguments with their brand of "Christianity" – as if I’m the defender of the faith.
When I watched Coretta King’s funeral and Eddie Long came onto the stage, I turned it off, even though that was the first time I ever saw him. And when one of these people is accused of something like this, my mind says "guilty," instead of "innocent until proven guilty." Even though I know that’s not fair, sexual excess just seems to fit with the rest of the glitzy persona. Sooner or later, I’m going to turn out to be wrong, but it hasn’t happened yet. The thing I really don’t understand is why these monotonous expose`s don’t put a dent in their following. The best I can come up with is that such people are like a drug. They somehow makes you feel good, and want to come back for more.
I certainly resonate with all you say, Mickey. Maybe it’s been done already, but I think there’s a fertile field for someone to study the role of sexuality in evangelical ministers. I grew up on the edge them in my family — and they weren’t even the most extreme by any means. My uncle was a dour circuit rider Methodist minister, whose two sons followed him as ministers, although with more of the accoutrements of “performance” and showbiz kinds of theatrics, in whom I sensed some of this same stuff, even if tightly suppressed and sublimated.
Especially in one cousin who started out as an actor but couldn’t make it in New York, so he then developed a “Drama Ministry,” sanctioned by the Methodist Church. He went all over the country putting on pageant type performances, giving staged readings (in costume) of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and then of other Biblical figures. He wore his hair long in the style Jesus’ is usually pictured and eventually came to look like that image. He also drove a big Cadillac and had a private plane to easily get from one gig to another in churches all over the country. As far as I know, there was never any hint of sexual exploitation on his part, or even dalliance — I would be extremely surprised. But there’s no doubt he enjoyed the life style and the fame and the drama of it all. In person, he was always the center of anything going on in a small or large group — and needed to be. For him to just sit quietly and listen to others was just not in her repertory.
I always thought of my cousin Frank more in terms of psychological neediness than as an accomplished and charismatic religious leader. It all turned me off, but his followers loved it.
WOW. I just noticed my slip in the above — “just not in HER repertory.”
Hmmmm. I’ll have to think about that one.