More Sex Scandals Rock Mega Church and Jesuits

First, there is the developing story on MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21888916/) about the sex scandal overtaking an Atlanta megachurch leader in mega-sized sex scandal - seems the Archbishop slept with brother’s wife and fathered her child who is now a pastor at the church himself. Here are some highlights:

DECATUR, Ga. - The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her. Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test. In truth, this is not the first — or even the second — sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair. The living proof of that lie is 34-year-old D.E. Paulk, who for years was known publicly as Earl Paulk's nephew.

The Archbishop has also admitted affair to the church last year and the archbishop, his brother and the church are being sued by former church employee Mona Brewer, who says Earl Paulk manipulated her into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. Earl Paulk admitted to the affair in front of the church last January.

At its peak in the early 1990s, the Church claimed about 10,000 members and 24 pastors and was a media powerhouse. By soliciting tithes of 10 percent from each member's income, the church was able to build a Bible college, two schools, a worldwide TV ministry and a $12 million sanctuary the size of a fortress.

Meanwhile according to MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21886273/), the Jesuits have settled yet another sex abuse case involving the Roman Catholic Church, this time arising from the abuse of Alaska Natives. Naturally, and all too typically with the Catholic Church, the story lacks any reports that anyone in authority positions will suffer as a result of the abuse scandal. Here are some story highlights:

Anchorage, Alaska - For more than three years attorney Ken Roosa has been trying to get compensation for 110 Alaska Natives who claim church clergy violated a sacred trust and sexually abused them. "They intended to go to their grave with these secrets and there came a time in their life when they could no longer keep it a secret," he said.

Roosa announced Sunday that a $50 million settlement had been reached between his clients and the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province. The settlement amounts to the largest ever reached with a single religious order. Each victim should receive an average settlement of about $450,000, Roosa says, although that amount will vary depending on the severity of each case.

The largest case involved 55 men who say Deacon Joseph Lundowski raped them repeatedly in the small villages of St. Michaels, Stebbins, and Hooper Bay. The Jesuits sent the alleged abusers, including Lundowski and several other priests and deacons, into Alaskan communities. Meanwhile, cases against the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks, a co-defendant in all of the cases, remain unresolved. The Diocese owned and managed the churches the alleged Jesuit abusers were sent to. Robert Hannon, special assistant to the Bishop of the Fairbanks Diocese, said Sunday word about the settlement with the Jesuits gives the Diocese hope for a settlement of its own.

My Son - Monday Evening Update

Pete was released from the hospital today and is back at his mother's house where he is to take it easy and do nothing strenuous for the next three weeks as his spleen and insides heal up. Needless to say, I am delighted that he's not going to need surgery and can be at home where he will not be going quite so stir crazy. Plus, I really did not want him stuck in the hospital for Thanksgiving Day. Again, a sincere thank you is sent out to all of you who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers. Being a parent has many wonderful blessings, but it definitely can take a great toll on one's nerves at times!!

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to Target Pro-Gay Bishops

To say that I am disappointed with Rowan Williams' spineless leadership of the Anglican Communion is an understatement. His pitiful leadership and fear of standing up to anti-gay bishops is one factor that has kept me from possibly returning to the Episcopal Church. I have never been one to sacrifice doing what is right for what is convenient or that which will engender a false sense of unity. Better to stand alone than go over the cliff with the rest of the lemmings.

In my view, if Williams needs to target anyone, it should be anti-gay bigots like Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria who has been actively interfering with the workings of other national churches within the Communion. Sadly, I suspect he will act as a modern day Neville Chamberlain in the face of modern day fascists like Akinola who I view as anything but a man of God or true follower of Christ. Here are highlights from the Daily Telegraph's coverage (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/19/nclergy119.xml):

The Archbishop of Canterbury is preparing to target individual bishops whose pro-gay policies threaten to derail his efforts to avert schism, The Daily Telegraph has learnt. In a high-risk strategy, Dr Rowan Williams may even snub them by withdrawing their invitations to next year's Lambeth Conference. He has told friends he will challenge any bishop he believes is coming to the conference with an agenda "very much at odds" with his attempts to maintain unity in the worldwide Church.

Dr Williams sent invitations in May to most of the Anglican Church's 880 bishops around the world for the once-a-decade showcase gathering in Canterbury. He withheld invitations from only a handful of particularly divisive figures, including Bishop Gene Robinson, who became Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop in 2003. But he has now indicated that he is prepared to scrutinise controversial bishops he had already invited if there is evidence that they are unwilling to compromise their views.

The 2004 report, which he commissioned after Bishop Robinson's consecration, called on the American Episcopal Church to impose moratoriums on future consecrations of gay bishops and on same-sex blessings. The American bishops said after their critical meeting in New Orleans last month that they would not consent to another gay bishop, at least for the time being. But they acknowledged that some were still allowing clergy to carry out the public blessing of gay couples.

Dr Williams has been under great pressure from conservatives to punish the entire American Episcopal Church for bringing the worldwide Church to the brink of schism. Insiders point out, however, that Dr Williams could also target hardliners if he believes they are breaching guidelines against bishops intervening in foreign dioceses, as some Africans have done. If he decides to take the drastic step of withdrawing the invitation to bishops on either the liberal or conservative wing, he will risk a barrage of criticism and could provoke further damaging boycotts.

Former Virginia Governor Gilmore Announces He will run for U.S. Senate

As expected, former Governor Jim Gilmore [pictured on the right at left] has announced that he will be running for the U. S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator John Warner. His opponent will be former Virginia Governor Mark Warner who, unlike Gilmore, left the Governor's mansion with a high approval rating. The Christianists and wingnuts in the Republican Party of Virginia will love Gilmore - who will no doubt soon visit Pat Robertson to kiss his ring - but I do not see him doing well at all in Northern Virginia or in most urban areas. The combination of those voting blocks has increasingly been able to blunt the far right voting from the rural areas of the state. I sincerely hope the trend continues. While Jim Gilmore appointed me to serve on a state agency while he was Governor, I can truthfully say that we do NOT need him in the U. S. Senate and that my wholehearted support will go to Mark Warner. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot (http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=137208&ran=57827):

Former Gov. James S. Gilmore III made his long apparent candidacy for the U.S. Senate official this morning, announcing his bid in a video posted on the internet and e-mailed to supporters. “Our leaders have let us down, and we badly need new hands at the wheel,” he asserted. Gilmore’s announcement sets up what will almost certainly be a bruising battle for the Senate seat being vacated by five-term Republican John Warner, who announced in August that he will retire when his term expires in January 2009.

Gilmore, a Republican, and former Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat, are expected to be unopposed for their respective party nominations. Both are experienced campaigners who have been successful in past statewide runs; with control of the Senate potentially hanging in the balance, both men figure to be well-financed.

Gilmore was governor from 1998-2002. His campaign and then his term in office was marked by his relentless advocacy for repeal of the state’s personal property tax, or ”car tax,” an annual levy based on the value of taxypayer automobiles and boats. Gilmore retains a strong base of support among the party’s conservatives however and the prospect of his candidacy helped convince Rep. Tom Davis, R-11th District, a relative moderate, to abandon plans to seek the GOP nomination.

It is interesting that out of the comments posted on the article by Pilot subscribers, only one was positive towards Gilmore. He and the "social conservatives" are incapable of moving the country forward.

More Monday Male Beauty

Global Warming May Devastate the USA South's Agriculture

This story from AmericaBlog.com (http://www.americablog.com/2007/11/global-warming-may-devastate-souths.html) which in turn picks up from a Washington Post story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800501.html?hpid=moreheadlines&sid=ST2007111800526) looks at the irony of the voting patterns in the U.S. South and how the region elects politicians who refuse to admit that climate change is even occurring, much try to do anything about it. Virginia gets some much deserved badmouthing in the process too. Here are some highlights:

We've written before about how the South has a reputation for electing far-right Neanderthal politicians who don't care about much beyond God, gays and guns (embracing the former and the latter, and bashing the guy in the middle). And we've written about how the South's biggest problems, like poverty, have little to do with God, gays, guns or the Republican (or far-right Democratic) politicians they elect. It's therefore funny, yet again, that the conservative South is shooting itself in the foot by siding with politicians (that would be Republicans) who deny the existence of global warming. Why? Because according to a new study, America's South will be among the world's regions worst hit by the impact of global warming on local agriculture.

Still, when you consider that the South produced the likes of Jesse Helms and is still home to possibly the most bigoted state in the Union, Virginia (which has the proud honor of being the state that most fought against inter-racial marriage and now has possibly the most gay-hating legislation on the books in the entire country), there's still a certain understandable schadenfreude in watching their embrace of the far right lead to their slow self-destruction.

US Hate Crimes Rose 8 Percent in 2006

Despite this increase and the fact that sexual orientation bias was the motivation for 15.5 percent of the crimes (i.e., 1,197 separate incidents), the Christianists continue to work to blog the addition of sexual orientation to the federal hate crimes law. Naturally, at the same time the Christianists enjoy protection against crimes motivated by religious bias. More of the same old double standard: protect us, but to Hell with anyone we do not like. Not very Christian in my book. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot (:http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HATE_CRIMES?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME):

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hate crime incidents in the United States rose last year by nearly 8 percent, the FBI reported Monday, as racial prejudice continued to account for more than half the reported instances. Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005.

The 7,722 criminal hate crime incidents involved 9,080 specific criminal offenses, include 5,449 against individuals, 3,593 against property and 38 classified as against society at large. An incident can involve attacks on both people and property.

As has been the case since the FBI began collecting hate crime data in 1991, the most frequent motivation was racial bias, accounting for 51.8 percent of the incidents in 2006. That was down slightly from the 54.7 percent in 2005. Also in 2006, religious bias was blamed for 18.9 percent of the incidents; sexual orientation bias for 15.5 percent, and ethnic or national origin for 12.7 percent.

My Son - Monday Update

I spoke with my son on the telephone minutes ago and and he happily reported that he had been allowed some solid food and that there was a chance he might get to be released at the end of the day if all continued to look good. He will not be able to work for a couple of weeks - he has been working as a waiter and carrying heavy trays would NOT be a good thing - and will need to avoid anything strenuous for several weeks. Obviously, this is all very good news. Thank you to all of you that have kept Pete in your thoughts and prayers.

Monday Male Beauty

Philadelphia Gives Boy Scouts Ultimatum - City Solicitor Tells Branch to Renounce Its Ban on Gays or Lose Rent Subsidy

This Washington Post story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800949.html) is a follow up on one I posted about some time back. I truly hope the City of Philadelphia sticks to its guns and either makes the Boy Scouts pay market rent or evicts them. No public building or funds should ever, in my opinion, be used for the benefit of an organization that discriminates against certain groups of taxpayers. The Boy Scouts are entitled to have their own rules - they just cannot expect taxpayers to subsidize their discriminatory policies. Bigotry has a price and the Scouts need to pay it. Here are some story highlights:

PHILADELPHIA -- This may be the last free Thanksgiving dinner for the Boy Scouts of Philadelphia. Citing a local 1982 "fair practices" law, the city solicitor has given the Scouts until Dec. 3 to renounce its policy of excluding homosexuals or forfeit the grand, Beaux-Arts building it has rented from the city for $1 a year since 1928.

"While we respect the right of the Boy Scouts to prohibit participation in its activities by homosexuals," the solicitor, Romulo Diaz, said last week in an interview, "we will not subsidize that discrimination by passing on the costs to the people of Philadelphia." The city has yet to complete an official assessment of the property. But it has tentatively placed the market value at $200,000 a year and has invited the Boy Scouts to remain in the nearly 100-year-old building as paying tenants.

The Supreme Court ruled seven years ago that the national Boy Scouts, as a private organization, had the right to exclude homosexuals from its ranks. The Boy Scouts also prohibit atheists and agnostics from employment on the grounds that such beliefs are inconsistent with the values of the country's largest youth organization.

Jubelirer said the council board has not decided how it will respond on Dec. 3 and is weighing its options, including a legal fight. What it would like is another compromise, and Jubelirer said it is hoping the city's next Democratic mayor, Michael Nutter, will be more amenable to a deal after his January swearing-in. But Diaz said he had the support of Nutter and the city council, which voted in May to evict the Scouts if they did not change the policy. "If I do not receive an executed lease, signed by the Boy Scouts, to remain as tenants paying a fair market rent, we will begin looking for alternative tenants that can take over the property June 1, 2008," Diaz said.