Lawyer: Other Men Went On Trips With Pastor<\/a>
Bishop Long To Address Allegations Sunday <\/strong>
Associated Press
by ERRIN HAINES
September 22, 2010<\/div>\nATLANTA — <\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/images\/eddie_long.gif\")
<\/strong>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.<\/p>\nGillen 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. <\/p>\n
"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…<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Maybe this one will be the case where the allegations are false. Sooner or later, there’s going to be a case like that. So, innocent until proven guilty. But it sure smells like there’s going to be something to this. Why do I say that?
Mega<\/strong>church; Bentley<\/strong>; Porche<\/strong>; Fancy costumes<\/strong>; Friends in high places<\/strong>; Anti-Gay<\/strong> activist; Lots of trips<\/strong>; "Mentoring<\/strong>" youth; Charisma<\/strong>; things that don’t exactly fit with the Christian ideal as I understand it. He’s one of the ones whose finances were being investigated by Senator Grassley. I say being investigated, but they are all stonewalling.<\/div>\nI’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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
I’m going to be surprised if these accusations turn out to be unfounded. Just playing the odds…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lawyer: Other Men Went On Trips With Pastor Bishop Long To Address Allegations Sunday Associated Press by ERRIN HAINES September 22, 2010 ATLANTA — 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}