Atlanta Baptist megachurch pastor Eddie Long accused of sexual misconduct [Update]

Described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement,” Baptist megachurch pastor Eddie Long of Atlanta, Ga., has been accused of “repeatedly” coercing two young former parishioners “into having sex with him.”

Third suit filed.

Fourth suit filed.

Robbie Brown of the New York Times wrote:

In two lawsuits filed in DeKalb County, the men said that Bishop Long, a prominent minister and television personality, had used his position as a spiritual counselor to take them on trips out of state and perform sexual acts on them.

. . .

“Defendant Long has a pattern and practice of singling out a select group of young male church members and using his authority as bishop over them to ultimately bring them to a point of engaging in a sexual relationship,” said a suit filed by one of the men, Maurice Robinson, 20. The other man who filed suit is Anthony Flagg, 21.

ishop Long’s lawyer, Craig Gillen, rejected the accusations.

“Bishop Long adamantly denies these complaints,” Mr. Gillen said. “We find it unfortunate that these two young men have taken these actions. We are reviewing the complaint and will respond accordingly.”

Lawyers for the two men painted a picture of widespread corruption and sexual misconduct. They said Bishop Long had provided the men with free hotel stays in more than a dozen cities around the country (checking them into rooms under the alias “Dick Tracy”) and had given them gifts, including a Mustang. They said he had introduced them to celebrities like the producer Tyler Perry and the actor Chris Tucker.

A lawyer for the men, Brenda Joy Bernstein, said officials at the church had known that the sexual acts were occurring but covered up for Bishop Long. “They would do everything to protect the most powerful church in the Southeast,” she said.

In the spring of 2007, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote of Bishop Long:

“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. His book, subtitled What a Woman Needs to Know, What a Man Needs to Understand, appeared in the midst of a roaring growth period for Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., near Atlanta. During the mid-’90s, it swelled to over 18,000 congregation members, men and women who worship in a multimillion-dollar complex that’s the size of most major universities, spread out on 240 acres of land.

. . .

Last year, Long extended an invitation to gays and lesbians looking for a “cure” to attend a “Sexual Orientation and Reorientation” conference at New Birth. The event consisted mostly of “ex-gay” ministers like the Rev. D. L. Foster and former gangsta rapper Samantha Coleman preaching that people can be “delivered” from the “unwanted desires” of homosexuality. Foster told the small crowd of black and white Christians with same-sex attractions how he “never once prayed to God for him to make me homosexual … but I didn’t know how to get rid of it.”

CNN reported yesterday:

The suits allege that various staff members working for Long, his church and the Longfellows Academy — which the suit describes as an offshoot ministry of New Birth — “knew of Defendant Long’s sexually inappropriate conduct and did nothing to warn or protect [the plaintiffs].”

It’s the talk of Atlanta, wrote Larry Hartstein and Mike Morris of the Journal-Constitution. Frank Ski, host of the “Frank and Wanda Morning Show” on V-103 and a 12-year member of Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, told them:

“It’s difficult for me because Bishop Long and I are very close,” he said. “I’m one of these people who’s really old school. When you’re a friend and I support you, I support you. Right now it’s allegations.”

“It’s going to cause a lot of destruction in our community,” a caller told Ski. “I just hope it’s not true.”

ABC News reported today:

But B.J. Bernstein, the lawyer for Maurice Robinson and Anthony Flagg, has promised that she has photos, texts and e-mails that show a relationship between her clients and the bishop.

In 2004 the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that “that a charity Long created — Bishop Eddie Long Ministries Inc. — made him its biggest beneficiary, supplying him with at least $1 million in salary over four years, a $1.4 million home and use of a $350,000 Bentley.”

‘Oxygen’ explores ‘ethical, social, and spiritual values that make life human’

John P. Ferré is a Professor of Communication and Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville. He served on the Ecumenical Jury at this year’s Montreal World Film Festival. A member of Highland Presbyterian Church in Louisville, he wrote for the Presbyterian News Service:

The movie that excited the jury most was Oxygen, the debut feature film by 29-year-old Belgian director Hans Van Nuffel. It tells the story of two young men with cystic fibrosis whose health deteriorates until they are hospitalized hoping for a lung transplant. Xavier, the older of the two, has lived the life of an athlete, scuba diving, racing cars, and running. His next-door neighbor in the Belgian hospital is Tom, who finds his excitement outside the law, first stealing drugs, then manufacturing methamphetamine.

As their hospital stays become longer, Xavier and Tom become friends, each challenging the other’s life choices. The film ends powerfully, but unsentimentally, asking viewers by implication how they would choose to live their lives if they had a terminal condition — which, of course, is what all of us must do

For your consideration:

The world’s smallest stop-motion animation

Filmed using life-saving technology, it stars “Dot, a girl who just 9 millimeters tall.” And was created using life-saving technology.

Tracy Staedter of Discovery News explains:

The animation was filmed using a Nokia N8 smart phone equipped with a CellScope, a diagnostic-quality microscope that was invented by Daniel Fletcher at the University of California, Berkeley. The CellScope allows a doctor working anywhere there is a phone service to capture and transmit images of blood samples anywhere in the world. The technology could help diagnose disease in developing countries where medical doctors and labs are few and far between.

Watch:

Read the rest of Staedter’s account here.

Baptise a space alien [extraterresterial]?

Alien

Only if asked, said Guy Consolmagno, one of the pope’s astronomers. He made it clear that in his view, “Any entity – no matter how many tentacles it has – has a soul.”

He was, however, very practical about it, as the Guardian reported:

Guy Consolmagno, who is one of the pope’s astronomers, said he would be “delighted” if intelligent life was found among the stars. “But the odds of us finding it, of it being intelligent and us being able to communicate with it – when you add them up it’s probably not a practical question.”

As for intelligent design, so close to the hearts of some Southern Baptists, well that’s “bad theology” that had been “hijacked” by American creationist fundamentalists.

All very scientific, thank you.

Even Montana’s expansive clergy privilege has limitations

A Montana District Court ruled “that the pastor’s report to police of the confession was admissible because the pastor told defendant before he began to confess that if he was disclosing anything illegal the pastor was obligated to notify authorities.”

Howard M. Friedman explains at Religion Clause:

The court concluded that the confession’s confidentiality was not protected by the church’s “course of discipline” and that in any event Hardman’s making of the confession after being warned that the pastor would go to authorities amounted to a waiver of the privilege under Montana law for confessions made to clergy “in the individual’s professional character in the course of discipline enjoined by the church to which the individual belongs.”

How did Ezell suffer the little children in 2004 case?

Refuse to testify and fail to warn your church’s members about a sexual predator in their midst.

That was newly elected Southern Baptist North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell’s reaction when in 2004 as pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, he learned that a volunteer at his church who had also taught at a school operated by his church [see addendum] was accused of sex crimes. And Ezell was himself subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury.

Christa Brown at Stop Baptist Predators writes:

When prosecutors subpoenaed pastor Ezell to testify before the grand jury, Ezell invoked the clergy-penitent privilege. In other words, Ezell claimed that he couldn’t be required to testify under oath (i.e., under penalty of perjury) because he claimed that, as pastor, he was entitled to keep secret whatever Bill Maggard had told him.

…

Furthermore, as reported in the Courier-Journal, “Ezell said he did not expect the church would announce Maggard’s arrest to the congregation.”

In many states, Ezell would not have had recourse to clergy-penitent privilege and could have had difficulties himself if found to have failed to report “known or suspected instances of child abuse or neglect.” The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Child Welfare Information Gateway explains:

In approximately 18 States and Puerto Rico, any person who suspects child abuse or neglect is required to report.3 This inclusive language appears to include clergy but may be interpreted otherwise.

…

As a doctrine of some faiths, clergy must maintain the confidentiality of pastoral communications. Mandatory reporting statutes in some States specify the circumstances under which a communication is “privileged” or allowed to remain confidential. Privileged communications may be exempt from the requirement to report suspected abuse or neglect. The privilege of maintaining this confidentiality under State law must be provided by statute. Most States do provide the privilege, typically in rules of evidence or civil procedure.4 If the issue of privilege is not addressed in the reporting laws, it does not mean that privilege is not granted; it may be granted in other parts of State statutes.

This privilege, however, is not absolute. While clergy-penitent privilege is frequently recognized within the reporting laws, it is typically interpreted narrowly in the context of child abuse or neglect. The circumstances under which it is allowed vary from State to State, and in some States it is denied altogether. For example, among the States that list clergy as mandated reporters, New Hampshire and West Virginia deny the clergy-penitent privilege in cases of child abuse or neglect. Four of the States that enumerate “any person” as a mandated reporter (North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Texas) also deny clergy-penitent privilege in child abuse cases.

States which require reporting without regard to clergy-penitent privilege simply place the welfare of vulnerable children first.

Ezell could have put the children first and, judging from available accounts, simply did not do that.

Addendum:

On March 19, 2004, the Associated Press reported:

Maggard, 56, was indicted in December on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. He is accused of molesting seven boys between 1973 and 1975, when he was a fifth-grade teacher at Schaffner Elementary School.

The new indictment says Maggard molested the boys either at school or at his home.

Maggard was initially indicted Dec. 17. He pleaded not guilty at his Dec. 22 arraignment and later posted a $5,000 bond.

Maggard taught 13 years in Jefferson County Public Schools and later worked at a school operated by Highview Baptist Church, where he also volunteered in Sunday school and choir programs until recently.

The 6,000-member church is one of the state’s largest Southern Baptist congregations.

On August 3, 2004, WLKY.com reported:

A former teacher pleaded guilty to sexually abusing seven boys in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The deal calls for Bill Maggard Jr., 57, to spend up to 10 years in prison, WLKY NewsChannel 32 reported Tuesday.

. . .

Maggard taught for 13 years in Jefferson County Public Schools, and later worked at a school operated by Highview Baptist Church.

The church has said it has no claims of abuse

At sentencing time, Maggard made the kind of plea for clemency that is eerily predictable for church-going predators. On October 01, 2004, Jason Riley of the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote:

“I’m sorry for my actions many years ago,” he said during his sentencing hearing in Jefferson Circuit Court, adding that he sought treatment in the early 1980s and would be willing to do so again. “I faced my sin, sought forgiveness, sought help and God kept His promise.”

What of his victims? The burden of warning them appears to have fallen to the press and an alert member of Ezell’s congregation. As Christa explains:

And thank God for a member of Ezell’s congregation who saw what was happening in her church and worried about the safety of the kids. As reported in the Courier-Journal, a member of Highview knew about prior allegations of abuse by Maggard, and she was concerned about his being in contact with children in the church. So, she contacted the victims and encouraged them to go to police.

Did Maggard seek out his victims and provide treatment to them?

Were those seeking clemency for Maggard at least similarly concerned about finding and helping all of his victims? You know: The suffering children.

ABP news pages were hosting malicious software: Update

Update: As of this writing at sunrise late Saturday morning, Sept. 18, connections to the The Associated Baptist Press site site and “partner sites” (Texas Baptist Standard, Missouri Word & Way and Virginia Religious Herald) were no long greeted by the cautionary Google message quoted below. Service was slow, often usually timing out and occasionally sporadically usable andgenerally unusable but apparently possibly cleared of the malware infections which led to the cautionary interruption.

On their Facebook page, ABP apologizes for the interruption and recommends users “may want to run virus and malware scans on your computer as a precaution.”

If you run a version of Windows and have accessed one of the affected sites recently, judging from data acquired via search based on Google’s various warnings and Symantec information about one of the infections involved, a thorough malware scan is indeed a good idea. IMHO, not merely as a precaution.

———-

The Associated Baptist Press site has been blocked by Google for the following reasons:

Of the 107 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 13 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2010-09-17, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2010-09-16.

You can still visit the site, albeit at some risk. Specifically, as Google explained:

This web page at abpnews.com has been reported as an attack page and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Attack pages try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack pages intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.

But an attack by “a particularly malicious hacker,” as they say? Well, malicious, certainly. All such attacks are.

Loss of trust

Tony thinks there’s a one-by-one way out of this pickle.

From housecoats to statesmanship?

Kevin Ezell, who was on Sept. 14 appointed president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s troubled North American Mission Board, along the way blasted bloggers who were critical of his selection:

Typically those are bloggers who live with their mother and wear a housecoat during the day. Just ignore them, but I apologize if you are hurt by anything that they might say about me or indirectly about you.

Enid, Oklahoma, pastor Wade Burleson, well known for his blogging, responded calmly:

One of the things that turns leaders into statesmen is the ability to be gracious to all, even those who criticize. Regardless of whether or not the proposed NAMB President has the temperament to handle the criticism that will come his way, it would be helpful for him to be gently reminded that it is both inconsistent and illogical to call his critics “bloggers who live with their mother and wear housecoats” and then “apologize for the hurt” those bloggers cause. Criticism from respected leaders hurts. To publicly disrespect the character of one’s critics and then turn around and acknowledge their criticism hurts is a fallacy. It’s best to either remain silent in the face of criticism or answer the criticism while displaying respect for the critics.

Leaders who turn into statesmen learn this lesson quickly. I am hopeful Dr. Ezell learns this lesson quicker than most.

Others were also unimpressed. Even infuriatedhumorously peeved.

Ezell appears to be somehow new to the Southern Baptist blogosphere. He really must adapt. He ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

[H/T to Burleson for the House photo pun.]

Roman Catholic Church abuse survivors demand justice

Hilary Whiteman of CNN reports:

Sue Cox was 10 years old when she says she was raped by a priest in her family home on the eve of her Confirmation, a sacrament which signifies the cementing of bonds between baptised believers and the Church.

The attack occurred in her bedroom while her family was downstairs. “I was mortified. I started to self-harm. I was ashamed and guilty,” she said. Her mother told her: “Perhaps it was one of God’s plans.”

It wasn’t one of His better ones,” Cox said.

Cox was interviewed by Ruthe Glendill, religion correspondent for the Times of London. Glendill uploaded the interview to YouTube:

Michael Hirst of BBC interviewed Cox, who told him:

I feel liberated because I am now able to speak out; I believe that secrets keep you sick.

They do.