The Hazards of Belief

One reader challenged the claims and said he wanted proof that the amulet worked.

Lawsuits Accuse Megachurch Leader of Sexual Misconduct
By ROBBIE BROWN

ATLANTA — Two young men in Georgia said Tuesday that the pastor of a 33,000-person Baptist megachurch, Bishop Eddie L. Long, had repeatedly coerced them into having sex with him.

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.

Bishop Long is the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, an Atlanta suburb. It is one of the largest churches in the country.

“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.

Bishop 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.”

Bishop Long became the church’s pastor in 1987 and, under his leadership, its congregation grew to more than 25,000 people from 300, according to the church’s Web site.

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.

The young men met Bishop Long, who has a wife and four children, through a church program for teenagers, Ms. Bernstein said. The sexual acts occurred when the men were 17 and 18 years old, the lawsuits said.

“They just wanted to be loved and cared for by one of the most charismatic and powerful men that this church has ever known,” Ms. Bernstein said. “He is destroying lives.”

Bishop Long is an outspoken critic of homosexuality and has been called by the Southern Poverty Law Center “one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement.” He is the author of a book titled “What A Man Wants, What A Woman Needs: The Secret To Successful, Fulfilling Relationships.”

There must be a law

Something like, "The probability that a religious leader is a sex offender is directly proportional to the the virulence of his homophobia." It's happened again.

Two young men in Georgia said Tuesday that the pastor of a 33,000-person Baptist megachurch, Bishop Eddie L. Long, had repeatedly coerced them into having sex with him.

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.

It's gotten so I can't see any of these crazy god-wallopers and not assume they're going to leave the podium and run off to a back room to do exactly what they've been railing against. It's sort of like a Dorian Gray scheme: they've got a lilly-white sanctimonious face for the public, and what they reveal when off-camera and out of sight is something sickeningly depraved. What Pope Ratzi does behind closed doors must be nightmarish.