With yet a fourth young male now coming forward and alleging that he was the victim of sexual coercion, the empire of Bishop Eddie L. Long (pictured at left in a muscle shit shot e-mailed to a victim) may well be on the verge of crashing. Long has clearly used religion to parlay himself a fortune and a lavish life style. In addition to his apparently hypocritical public homophobia and condemnation of gays,to me, Long represents the one of the worse aspects of modern Christianity in that he seems to put money above all else (his home is pictured below). The Gospel message of giving away one's fortune to help the poor and homeless was surely lost on Long. And, of course, many other professional Christians like Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and many others who have used hate and intolerance wrapped in religiosity to line their own pockets. Like Ted Haggard - who has come to Long's defense - it's Long's hypocrisy (if the allegations prove true) that will make his downfall so sweet to savor. Long has repeatedly condemned homosexuality and fomented the "cure" myth - now, the reality may well be that all the while he was lusting for it like Haggard and Ed Schrock and abusing his position of trust to satisfy his sexual cravings.
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The New York Times looks at Long's lavish life style and the allegations that may well spell the end of his disingenuous career. Here are soem highlights:
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Over the last two decades, Bishop Eddie L. Long has built a religious and financial empire from scratch, transforming a small, faltering church into a modern cathedral with one of the largest and most influential congregations in the country.
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Today, Bishop Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church includes a multimillion-dollar network of charities and businesses, a private school and the Samson’s Health and Fitness Center, where he holds court and pumps iron with young people.
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His message that God wants people to prosper has attracted celebrities, professional athletes and socialites, swelling the membership to 25,000. The church hosted four United States presidents for the funeral of Coretta Scott King in 2006.
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But Bishop Long’s reputation and sprawling enterprises now stand threatened by a sex scandal. Four former members of a youth group he runs have accused him of repeatedly coercing them into homosexual sex acts, and of abusing his considerable moral authority over them while plying them with cash, new cars, lodging and lavish trips.
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The accusations are all the more explosive because Bishop Long styles himself a social conservative, rails against homosexuality and calls for a ban on same-sex marriage. His church even holds seminars promising to “cure” homosexuals.
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In 2005, for instance, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published tax records showing that from 1997 to 2000 Bishop Long had accepted $3 million in salary, housing, a car and other perks from a charity he controlled.
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The four complaints filed in court describe how Bishop Long arranged for the church to provide cars to the young men and put them on the church payroll. Two of them also said they received free lodging in church-owned houses, where, they said, Bishop Long visited them for sessions of kissing, oral sex or masturbation. He also took them on trips to other cities and abroad, sharing rooms with them, with the knowledge of several church officials, the complaints say.
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“There are biblical and spiritual passages that were given to them to make them comfortable and make them believe that they were not gay,” Ms. Bernstein said.
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If the allegations against Long prove true, it will be yet another example of the louder one markets homophobia, the more likely it is they are secretly getting gays sex on the side. It does make one wonder about Tony Perkins, Robert Knight, Maggie Gallagher and similar professional gay haters.
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Over the last two decades, Bishop Eddie L. Long has built a religious and financial empire from scratch, transforming a small, faltering church into a modern cathedral with one of the largest and most influential congregations in the country.
*
Today, Bishop Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church includes a multimillion-dollar network of charities and businesses, a private school and the Samson’s Health and Fitness Center, where he holds court and pumps iron with young people.
*
His message that God wants people to prosper has attracted celebrities, professional athletes and socialites, swelling the membership to 25,000. The church hosted four United States presidents for the funeral of Coretta Scott King in 2006.
*
But Bishop Long’s reputation and sprawling enterprises now stand threatened by a sex scandal. Four former members of a youth group he runs have accused him of repeatedly coercing them into homosexual sex acts, and of abusing his considerable moral authority over them while plying them with cash, new cars, lodging and lavish trips.
*
The accusations are all the more explosive because Bishop Long styles himself a social conservative, rails against homosexuality and calls for a ban on same-sex marriage. His church even holds seminars promising to “cure” homosexuals.
*
In 2005, for instance, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published tax records showing that from 1997 to 2000 Bishop Long had accepted $3 million in salary, housing, a car and other perks from a charity he controlled.
*
The four complaints filed in court describe how Bishop Long arranged for the church to provide cars to the young men and put them on the church payroll. Two of them also said they received free lodging in church-owned houses, where, they said, Bishop Long visited them for sessions of kissing, oral sex or masturbation. He also took them on trips to other cities and abroad, sharing rooms with them, with the knowledge of several church officials, the complaints say.
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“There are biblical and spiritual passages that were given to them to make them comfortable and make them believe that they were not gay,” Ms. Bernstein said.
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If the allegations against Long prove true, it will be yet another example of the louder one markets homophobia, the more likely it is they are secretly getting gays sex on the side. It does make one wonder about Tony Perkins, Robert Knight, Maggie Gallagher and similar professional gay haters.
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