 Ohhh-weee. Bishop Eddie Long ... who knew? Of course, what we have are a whole lot of allegations, nothing has been proven yet, but it doesn't look good. So let's start with the allegations.
At this point, four young men have come forward and accused Bishop Long of coercing them into sex. While their relationships with the bishop began as early as age 14, the sexual activity did not begin until each accuser was 16 or over. The age of consent in Georgia is 16, so technically, it was legal for the bishop to have sex with these young men provided it was consensual. In court papers, the accusers claim that Long made the plaintiffs his "Spiritual Sons." As a Spiritual Son, they were given gifts including cars, tuition, jewelry, housing and both national and international travel. Ironically, Long is notoriously anti-gay and anti-gay marriage. Yet, the Spiritual Sons each engaged in a Covenant Ceremony with the Bishop that seems a lot like a marriage ceremony. According to a New York Times article, "The boys went through a bonding ritual, known as a "Covenant Ceremony," in which Long gave them jewelry and exchanged vows with them while quoting from Scripture as ceremonial candles burned, according to court complaints filed against the pastor. Reciting Bible verses, the pastor promised to protect them from harm and called them "spiritual sons." Hmmm ... Sounds like a marriage to me... Two cell phone photos of Long in a muscle shirt and workout gear were sent to the media. Allegedly, he sent these to some of his Spiritual Sons. In his defense, Long's attorney Craig Gillen said on Tom Joyner's morning radio show that the photos prove nothing. Long is a health advocate and weight lifter and that's all. Also, it's important to mention that one of the accusers was accused of breaking into the Bishop's office in June of 2010 and is currently facing burglary charges in that case. So here are my questions.... - Didn't it raise red flags with these boys' mothers when they were taking private planes around the world, driving new cars and spending a bunch of money?
- Several articles mention that others close to the pastor knew what was going on. How could you know something like that was going on and just turn a blind eye, especially if you want to call yourself a Christian?
- How do you get up and talk against gays while doing this kind of stuff behind closed doors? How do you reconcile that in your mind?
- What straight man sends those photos to other men?
- Where is the rest of the evidence? Where are the emails, texts and other communications? I'm sure there had to be some.
So what do you think?
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