The Fall From Grace For Bishop Eddie Long
Bishop Eddie Long with President George Bush at his New Life megachurch in Atlanta, Georgia in 2006. The bishop has faced allegations of sexual coercion from several young men. Photograph: Associated Press
In the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, a sex scandal seems more entertainment than moral turpitude. As America stays locked in fascination with the fallout from New York Congressman Anthony Weiner's online stripdown for women other than his wife, an older scandal – that of homophobic, black mega church preacher, Bishop Eddie Long – draws to a disquieting close.
About a year ago, four young men in Bishop Long's Georgia churchsued him, accusing him of sexual coercion. Apart from the suggestion of abuse of his pastoral role, the allegations painted Eddie Long as the consummate hypocrite. This was the bishop who had railed against homosexuality as being a "manifestation of the fallen man". In 2004, in the heat of Bush gay-baiting about a constitutional ban on gay marriage, this preacher led a march to the graveside of Rev Martin Luther King to support Bush's initiative.
His views on gay rights were considered so odious, that when civil rights icon Coretta Scott King died, many progressive African Americans leaders, including former NAACP President Julian Bond, refused to attend her funeral service at Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist church.They argued that Coretta Scott King, who was a staunch gay rights supporter, would never have approved of her funeral service being held in Long's church because of his homophobic views.
Bishop Long has now settled the lawsuits against him, under terms that preclude any discussion of the truth of the men's allegations; or disclosure of how much, if any monies were paid or if an apology had been delivered. As with many sex scandals, Long's troubles are as intriguing for his apparent moral failings as they are for what it says about his community. Recently, Bishop Long's friend and fellow pastor,Creflo Dollar, admonished those in Long's flock who have fled the church because of the stench of the allegations.
In a perfect world, it wouldn't matter if an unmarried Eddie Long had consensual sex with other men – except that the bishop was married to a woman at the time that these allegations are said to have taken place. The toxic rhetoric of folk like Long creates the circumstances for sex – gay sex – to be considered dangerous. What is worse, there seems to be a gradient of risk: the more one stands to lose, the higher the level of turpitude. The men who rail against so-called sexual ills may often be the ones who are indulging in the most extravagant versions of what they lash out against.
Apart from the inherent implications of deception, Long's alleged seduction of impressionable young men smacked of downright exploitation. If the facts in that suit were true, Bishop Long was able to perpetrate these acts through a massive corridor of silence. Of course, only a victim of predatory sexual relations can say, definitively, what took place with an abuser. But wilful ignorance also encourages abuse. And the call from fellow Pastor Dollar for Long's congregation to stick with him no matter what seems like an impatient dismissal of the serious charges that were made.
Perhaps the desirable, if unintended consequence of a steady stream of sex scandal coverage is a new tendency to probe issues that would ordinarily remain as harmful secrets. The lid is slowly being lifted on sexual abuse within churches. And the question of homophobia in the black community is attracting attention that will, hopefully, spur useful discussion. Yes, there is a delicious temptation to applaud the decline of Bishop Long as a kind of victory. But even more, a closer examination of the architecture that propped up Bishop Long and made him so powerful is really what will prove most useful in the end.
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