Pomp and Circumstance Signifying Nothing: "Bishop" Harry Jackson's Consecration As Something, Something, Something

Proclaiming yourself "Bishop" of anything these days is old hat: "Bishop" Eddie Long joined of a group and proclaimed themselves "bishops" - even though they were supposed to be Southern Baptists - a denomination which does no have a hierarchy as such. And there's "Bishop" T.D.Jakes, another prosperity preacher who needed the moniker to give cache to his ministry.  According to wikipedia: This usage is especially common in African American churches in the USA.


Now "Bishop" Harry Jackson has been declared International Presiding Bishop of the International Communion of Evangelical Churches. 
The ICEC, however, is something that Jackson dreamt up in his own little homophobic and mysogynistic mind.

When Giving Hope Is Considered Evil: Dan Savage Gets Savaged By "Ex Gay" Minister And Associate Of "Bishop" Eddie Long

The gay teen anti-suicide/bullying movement, It Gets Better, finally got the unkindest cut of all, courtesy of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality Radio Hour with Peter LaBarbera:  Pastor DL (short for "Down Low") Forster called for the arrest of Dan Savage, the creative mind behind the phenomenally successful attempt to quell the country's spate of teen suicides.


And the supposed pastor has long billed himself as "ex-homosexual," and has had a close association with "Bishop" Eddie Long and his New Birth Missionary congregation. Go figure.


Dan Savage responded in his inimitable Dan Savage way:

Gay Kids Are Still Killing Themselves

posted by DAN SAVAGE on MON, FEB 13, 2012 at 10:34 AM

And it's not because gay kids are still being told that they're sick and sinful by their preachers. And it's not because gay kids are still being failed by cowardly school administrators and callous school boards and cowed teachers. And it's not because gay kids are still being bullied by straight kids who have been told that gay people are sick and sinful and that gay people, by simply existing, represent an existential threat to their families. And it's not because the religious right opposes all efforts to prevent anti-gay bullying in our schools and is pushing for new laws that create a special right for little religious bigots tobrutalize gay children. And it's not because some gay kids have parents who subjected to years of psychological and spiritual violence before throwing them out and cutting them off.

No. It's my fault. And I should be arrested.

The Low Down On Down Low

DL Foster (Christian name Darryl, but attributes the DL to "Down Low") does not have a page on wikipedia.org. He is, however, mentioned in passing as one of the leaders of the ex-gay movement, which is surprising, considering that Exodus International (the leading "ex-gay" group) distanced itself from Rev. Foster back in 2006. Foster's own ministries are a dizzying mixture of self-inflicted racism, self-loathing, come-back-to-God because you are "sexually broken" polemics centering on the African American Community, in particular Atlanta, the hub of "Bishop" Eddie Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church (at which Foster was invited to speak about the evils of homosexuality ... and to hawk his book


Foster's autobiography,  Touching A Dead Man: One man's Explosive Story of Deliverance from Homosexuality,  has long been out-of-print and is available only by downloading it through Foster's website.* It is, of course, a "book that launched a thousand deliverances." [sic]. Needless to say, however, unless you read the book, you will not know just how much Foster was in "the homosexual lifestyle" or if, in fact, he was ever gay at all. 

Bigot-enablers


The 27 videos of "ex-gays" and their proclamations are problematic: the self-loathing cannot be hidden. Their self-acceptance comes across as a merely a polemic (as Low Down would have it, but a poor one) based upon deep-rooted self-loathing: "falling" back into a destructive lifestyle of sex and drugs is predominant. Even those who admit to being born gay, never look upon themselves as have ever having any self-worth. Some actually state that they were "enticed" back into a "homosexual lifestyle," as if their own lives were worthless to begin with.


These "testimonies" seldom address one problem: that they may do more harm than good; for the purely prejudiced, "change" is the name of the game. And they care not if it is true or false, because they need something to hang their prejudices on. Harking back to the thoroughly researched topic of the relationship between I.Q. and prejudice, sociologists and psychologists can tell you that such testimonies can cause serious physical and emotional harm to gays, lesbians and transgendered people. And while the "ex-gays" are told how many souls they are helping to save, the reality is this: people will be hurt. 


The Target Is The Message

Foster's latest raison d'etre is not African American men and women who identify as gay, but gay men and women who identify as Christian. Yes, you read that right. Gay Christian Movement Watch - one of Foster's online "ministries" - is perhaps more like Gay Christian Movement Witch Hunt, alerting people to more progressive ministries and organizations and demonizing them ad infinitum:

GCM Watch seeks to facilitate balanced discussion regarding the “gay christian movement” and enlighten the broader Christian constituency through research, documentation and examination of movement’s various adherents and their beliefs in contrast to traditional Christian doctrine.

A close look at his polemics (his own word, since he considers gay Christians and affirming churches heretical) reveal nothing that could be considered a "discussion" and certainly nothing approaching balance.
To sum up: after the American Family Association warned us that Ellen Degeneres was dangerously "nice" and should be fired from being a spokesperson for JC Penney, a suppoosedly "ex-gay" minister has called for the arrest of Dan Savage because he founded the movement It Gets Better. 


Being nice to people and giving them hope sure ain't what they used to be.




*One reviewer of Touching A Dead Man: "I feel sorry for this man's wife. He'll be skulking around the men's room sooner or later, if he isn't already."
4 copies of the paperback book are available for an astounding $64 ea. Perhaps someone thinks of it as a curious collector's item. 

Gerbils, Cell Phones And Bats Up The Butt: The Culture War Heats Up With Diatribes From Another World

The other world being the other side - the far right other side -  that is.


The irony of today's Gingrich morality debate is that it highlights rather than downplays the hypocrisies and the falsehoods spun by "social conservatives." Gingrich's infidelity mea culpas served him well in South Carolina, of course. Sarah Palin blasted the "dumb arse" media for covering the "open marriage story."  And his victory was lauded by organizations such as NOM (National Organization for Marriage). Gingrich's past, it seems is blissfully in the past and has nothing whatsoever to do with the country's economic future.


The the future of the country's morality? Why, it lies not with Gingrich, but with the country's more pulpit-driven lawmakers ... and the pulpits themselves, of course. Mea culpa's evidently helped homophobic "Bishop" Eddie Long  regain his stature at New Birth Missionary Church last Sunday where he was crowned "king" by a suspect "rabbi". He was paraded around on a throne and clothed in tabernacle scrolls (they couldn't afford spandex?).  People are calling it a mockery, but his congregation is calling it righteousness.


RAMPING UP THE RIGHTEOUSNESS


So in the culture war of this year, "social conservatives," "values voters" and just plain ole' fundamentalists are ramping up the rhetoric to obscene levels. Obscene in their own minds. Hysterical in others.

On a recent appearance on LaBarbera’s radio show, [Americans for Truth About Homosexuality] [Dr./Pastor Patrick ] Wooden called homosexuality a “wicked, deviant, immoral, self-destructive, anti-human sexual behavior” and should make people “literally gag.” Wooden added that gay men have “to wear a diaper or a butt plug just to be able to contain their bowels” by their “40s or 50s” as a result of “what happens to the male anus.” (listen to excerpt below)

Then we have this man who is not capable of teaching sex education:

“Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community — it was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall.”
“My understanding is that it is virtually — not completely, but virtually — impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex…

He is, of course, Tennessee state senator Stacey Campfield who, late on, was refused service at a restaurant because of his bigoted views.

“What is the average lifespan of a homosexual? It’s very short ... Anybody out there who’s listening – your twelve listeners on your show, you have them Google ‘average homosexual lifespan.’ It’s very short.”*

The "evidence" cited, of course, is a regurgitation of old lies, myths and irrelevant controversies. We can view vaguely literate "research" HERE and HERE. And they are repeated by every Family Research Council, every American Family Association, every Christian Right mega-church pastor in the country to push the electorate and the political candidates into a false sense of righteousness in the voting booth. 


From Eddie Long being crowned "king" to prophetess/apostle Cindy Jacobs "curing" a woman of her hysterectomy, the moralizing elements of the far right promise to attack liberals with cruel distortions, irrational fears (ala anti-Islam),  chicanery and pomposity never seen since the Crusades. 

But the influence of these deep thinkers is not to be dismissed, because it leads to people being discriminated against, or bludgeoned cats left on doorsteps with the word "liberal" scrawled across them.




*This last dig at Michelangelo Signorile's popularity is very telling: Signorile's program is broadcast to over 20 million Sirius XM radio subscribers. Campfield's aides evidently didn't know that when they booked him on the program. Spouting these "facts" on Signorile's program is in itself, ludicrous.

The New Birth Missionary Kool Aid: Eddie Long's "Coronation" Creates A New Cult While Mocking Christianity And Judaism

He was wrapped in scrolls from the Torah - not in his usual spandex.


The media couldn't cope with the effrontery of it all, so perhaps that is why the latest news and video from New Birth Missionary Baptist Church didn't sally forth until last Wednesday:


Scandal-ridden "Bishop" Eddie Long was annointed "king" last Sunday in a ceremony in which he was wrapped in scrolls from the Torah and paraded around on a throne. He was also designated a "prophet of Atlanta."


This latest event from what has become the nation's most ridiculed mega church has astounded even the most jaded: the below video has gone viral and has had jaws dropping and WTFs peppering the internet. 


The entire video is an unbelievable act of hubris: as if we are seeing Napoleon crowned emperor by the Pope, only Long is a poor Napoleon and "Rabbi" Messer is certainly no pope.

The Presenter of Kings


"Rabbi" Ralph Messer and his SIMCHAT TORAH BEIT MIDRASH are confusing entities- vague amalgums of Christianity and Judaism tied to Long's past Economic Empowerment Summit, thought to be instrumental in Long's million-dollar ponzi scheme. Like Long's title of "Bishop" and Prophetess Cindy ("Japan is shaped like a dragon'") Jacobs' "doctorate", Messer's sobriquet of "Rabbi" seems to be fabricated.


But that doesn't stop the New Birth Congregation from swallowing every Scripture-referenced declaration by Messer. His charismatic, televangelist demeanor overwhelmed the audience. And his mini-Torah lesson sounded authoritative. After all, besides giving its history, he included the monetary value of the scroll, and  to a Prosperity Gospel congregation that is imperative.


"On behalf of the Jewish People, the land of Israel and the God of Israel, I want to make a presentation."


The next days and weeks will hear from the millions who disagree: Messer's authority comes only from Messer. The Knesset may have something to say about him. (Or nothing, since they may not know he even exists).


THE COVENANT AND THE KOOL AID


Most of Messer's annointing of Long consisted of making the scandal-ridden Long immune from any more ... scandal:


"He is a humble man."
 "You can't attack him!"
" He's sealed by every word!"
 "...hidden in the Word of God!"
 "He's given the Constitution of God as a KING!" 
"...is raised up from a commoner to a kingship!" 
"We love you Bishop!"


The ceremony seemed more of a covenant between Long and his congregation, a covenant that said that he could never again be questioned about anything, never again be doubted, never again be charged with any malpractice of faith or even any civil crime. From now on, "Bishop" Eddie Long is accountable only to God. 


The rest of the performance is merely a peon to rock star worship at concerts, with the star looking oh so very humble and tearful.

Perhaps Anthea Butler of Religion Dispatches put the coronation in its most revealing light:

Clearly they have drunk the “Kool Aid” and I don’t use that term lightly. I’ve believed since my trip to New Birth back in 2010, when Long promised to fight his civil case, that New Birth was a cult-like organization. Long’s hold over his congregation reminds me of Jim Jones. That may sound harsh, but Jim Jones slept with his members too, before leading the People’s Temple into the jungles of Guyana.

The mind-boggling loyalty of the New Birth congregation certainly seems to point in the direction of "cult."  Notable are Messer's references to slavery and chromosomes, as if to say that Long is anointed by New Birth's African American ancestors as well. 


Butler also believes that Long's ministry is dying and so is his mega-church. However, this slow death may make the congregants drink the Kool Aid all the sooner, and I, along with Anthea Butler, hope that more testimonies of sex abuse and ponzi schemes surface before it is too late.


What Price Gullibility?


Cynics like me tend to dismiss acts like the anointing of "Bishop" Eddie Long as the epitome of stupidity. But this time, I would like to say seriously that no matter how much comedy fodder Long and his minions might be, he's still dangerous - simply because he holds desperate, gullible people in his grasp. These people have been stripped of spiritual self-respect. We should laugh at him on the condition that laughter will cause his followers to take note and perhaps attempt to regain that self-respect - in seeking spiritual guidance elsewhere. 

Pray Away The Gay - Or Just Ejaculate It Out?

“When they would ejaculate, they would be getting rid of the evil thoughts in their mind,” Girouex allegedly told detectives.

Just when you thought you've heard about all the wacko sex therapies to turn gays into straights, there comes along another one that blasts you out into the stratosphere:

A former youth pastor in Council Bluffs, Iowa, says he had sex with teenage boys because it was his pastoral duty “to help (the teen) with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with him.”

Evidently he was "called to duty" hundreds of times, according to the young men who told authorities that he had molested them when they were as young as 11. And his sessions of "sexual purity" were held in his home. 

Makes "Bishop Eddie Long" look positively virginal. 

Getting THE CALL: How One OpEdNews Writer Plans To Fight The Christian Right … With Their Own Weapons!

 When did I get "The Call"? I don't know. The only call I ever really heeded in my life was the call my mother gave me when I was overdue in drying the dishes. "They aren't gonna dry themselves! And you aren't foolin' me by stayin' in the bathroom like that!" Of course, she didn't know that I was seriously cultivating a love affair with my body as well as avoiding housework.

Getting "The Call" always seemed to me to be the oddest of euphemisms: why did God have to "call" you to do anything? If He needed you to do something and had to tell you to do it, He wasn't very omnipotent. "The Call" is always posited as some kind of awakening akin to a bolt of lightening or a kick in the head. The way I figured it, when you realized that you wanted to help people on both a spiritual and physical level, that's when you got "The Call." So there were no sudden flashes of enlightenment or inspiration, no burst of deep feelings or concern for my neighbor's soul. No. To me, it was just the realization that it was the time I should help someone else, in some way, somewhere. 

 

After writing about the ridiculous tyranny and fascism of today's Christian Right for the better part of seven years, the attendant realization came in the last several months: someone had to to take a stance against the hypocrites, liars, and bigots who were piling up, starting to look like vermin swarming over a piece of human flesh. In those months I saw countless men like "Bishop" Eddie Long abusing their power, righteous lobbyists like Tony Perkins and Bryan Fischer denying religion's role in teen suicides, one power-hungry but otherwise unimportant preacher holding an entire country hostage with threats to burn another religion's scriptures, and the Southern Poverty Law Center adding Christian Right-wing churches and organizations to their list of hate groups. I also saw how  the Christian Right is exporting hate in countries like Uganda and how a semi-literate storefront preacher named Steven Anderson received publicity by flaunting his ministry's "badge-of-honor" listing by the SPLC: "Well, then, if that makes us a hate group, then I guess we're a hate group."

So I decided to become an ordained minister. Oh, not just any minister, but one who could blast away at the Christian Right with an unrestrained passion, with a sense of irony, with a sense of purpose in exposing hypocrites whether clerical or lay, political or Machiavellian. A minister who could help save people from the clutches of obsessive proselytizing and provide a forum for open discussion of the spiritual. 

And I found a vehicle with which to become ordained with the beliefs I hold dear to me and which I hope will pay respect to a higher power.

The vehicle is the online spiritual diploma mill, The Universal Life Church. Along with ordination, I am able to marry, baptize and even bury people in most states. It's legal. With my ordination I am able to command  as much blind respect as all Christian Right-wing ministers (probably more earned respect, once their cloak of hypocrisy is stripped away). The ULC's main precept for it's ordination recipients is "To Live and Help Live." It commands no more than that. It does not command me to bludgeon anyone else over the head with it; in other words, it doesn't demand proselytizing. It doesn't demand automatic respect. It doesn't demand the entertainment of its followers through rituals and homilies. It doesn't demand to be the only precept, dogma, or religion.

"To Live and Help Live."

It seems so right to me: I believe we were put on this earth to survive as best as possible. We should make the most of our humanity, our human-ness, and help everyone else survive. Living up to one's human potential is at the pinnacle of praising man's creator. And lest the reader think that I'm espousing some kumbaya way of life, I think help can just as easily come from activism as it can from linking arms and singing songs of love and world peace.

And activism may be the key to avoiding the dangers of today's sinister proselytism: extreme factions of the Christian Right are pressing hard against humanity, oppressing educators, demonizing societies and politicizing compassion. Today we are bombarded by people who are audacious enough to reconstruct the past in order to redirect our future, taking to heart Rick Warren's motto: "Whatever it takes." In a sense, we could be entering an age in which a new kind of forced conversion would take hold from an opiate blend of nationalism, politics and pseudo-theology.

Oh, as an educated gay man who's lived through America's Age of AIDS, some might scoff and say that I am too biased, too inclined to left-leaning, bleeding-heart liberalism. And their point? "And He so loved the world that He gave over His only begotten Son." Hypocrites. If people expect me to strive for balance and be more objective, I say striving for balance is not the issue, whereas exposing hypocrisy is, because only by exposing hypocrisy can we cut off the head of the beast.

But isn't it rather flippant of me to take on such a serious sobriquet as "Reverend"? Not necessarily. There are some "men of the cloth" whom I can best in a debate about theology and Christianity's history. I may not be a savant in terms of spouting chapter and verse, but my intent may be more honorable than theirs, for I too can use the title as a weapon...for good as well as evil. For example: how could someone like "Rev." Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church air his hatred of homosexuals on national television, while someone who's studied more theology can't be heard to counter his blind stupidity? Answer: I didn't have the all-important "Rev." in front of my name.

Now I do.

Eddie Long's All-Male Pajama Prayer Party: "Bring A B-i-i-i-g Offering!"

This one escaped me. I think Google Alerts isn't doing its job!


It's not nerve - it's sheer stupidity! A lot of people in Eddie Long's congregation are probably scratching their heads right now and murmuring "what was he thinking?" He's not fully returned to the pulpit, but he has surfaced in a video showing him promoting an all-male, overnight, prayer vigil. Yes, that's right, a ... (snicker, snicker) "prayer vigil." 

And what kind of offering does he REALLY want the twinks, ooops, I mean men, to bring? This is beyond the pale of the ridiculous. Doesn't he ever listen to advisors? Oh, that's right: the sure way for people to know you're not gay is by sponsoring an all-male meeting! 

Breaking: Eddie Long, Ephren Taylor and The Church Brawl: Black Churches Assaulted by Greed and Power.

s




I am guilty. Yes, guilty of chiding the congregations of African-American churches: I considered them complicit in the chicanery of their churches.


I still do.


However, when you face someone who has been pummeled one too many times, you just have to commiserate with them: e.g., "Bishop" Eddie Long has come out with another beleaguered video, this time admitting that a friend had taken $1 million worth of "investments"  from his congregation. The "friend"? None other than the former boy-wizard of  entrepreneurship, Ephren Taylor.


When The Wiz Wanes


Taylor, author of the bestselling Creating Success From The Inside Out (Christian Living) was considered a "wiz kid" for inventing a video game when he was 12, becoming a millionaire by the age of 16 and then the country's youngest CEO of a publicly-traded company - City Capital.


Fame and hype can cover up almost anything: City Capital became a launching pad for other investments, as well as empowerment speaking tours. Just 6 months ago, Taylor was hawking his new book and raking in money from people who believed in Taylor's creed of  "social conscience." His company's stock soared to $20 per share. He appeared on Donny Deustch's show on CNBC on Aug. 13, 2009 and was hailed as THE brightest young thing to ever come along in years.


Curiously, Taylor resigned as CEO of City Capital in November of 2010. City Capital's stock now? Would you believe less than $.01 per share? When Taylor left, it seems a lot of his money-making secrets went with him - and his accounts too. Just as curious: his bio on wikipedia.com has not been updated since 2007.


So what has been doing lately? Evidently, Ephren Taylor has been busy - very  busy - hawking himself, mostly at churches. And now the real results of Taylor's Wealth Tour have been trickling in on the net and they're not that pretty:

I was also scammed by Ephren Taylor and his team, and the worst part of is the transition took place at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. Where he presented his deal in front of the man of God, Bishop Eddie Long. I signed document for my investment and I have not been able to contact anybody since the note was due on Sept. 08,2010.

Can anybody help. And yes, they should be in jail.

and...

this guy took my 5000.00 and all i got was his behind to kiss. he has got the 2 b the biggest modern day crook out there now. he is smart, he surround himself with high dollar attorneys to help protect his riches and keep everybodies money.

While no press release has come out regarding Taylor's problems with his former clients, he did have time yesterday to come out with an official response to the Eddie Long video:

I visited with Bishop Eddie L. Long in late 2009 prior to bringing my Wealth Tour Live to New Birth, with hopes of inspiring and empowering the congregation in business through seminars and making my book, Creating Success from the Inside Out, available to all attendees. The church received a percentage of product sales, and stated their intent to sell video from the presentations. I also operated on Bishop Long’s behalf to secure certain media opportunities for him. 

Taylor goes on to say that while he parted ways with City Capital, we will see that:  "I am still in good faith honoring my commitment to assist in efforts ensuring that this matter comes to a swift and positive conclusion for all parties."

Of course, that settles everything doesn't it? 

In the meantime, over in North Carolina*

WAS CHURCH EVER LIKE THIS?

Last Sunday, the Greater New Zion Baptist erupted in violence. You can see the video here, if you haven't seen it already. We all knew that many African-American churches were joyfully physical during services, but no one could foresee a free-for-all caused by an elderly pastor's ousting. The Pastor, Rev. LeVonia Ray laments (in the video) that such an occasion as his ouster would cause congregants to become so aggressive, but one parishioner cited this:

"He had his deacons to bring in non-members to continue to vote him back in." ... "We have been trying to get rid of him because he can't preach and because of the types of people he is bringing into the church."

Another source has pointed to the fact that church finances have come under scrutiny, faulting Pastor Ray. 


It's no secret that America's Black Churches have painted over their pastor's peccadilloes involving scandals like exta-marital affairs. But lately, criminal chicanery involving church money has begun to come to the surface. A good site that is now policing such crime is Preacher Bureau of Investigations.


That the African-American church community has to resort to such monitoring of their pastors is indeed sad, but has it come too late? Eddie Long's flock needed such help a long while ago. And trust in "Bishops" "Reverends" and "Preachers" has not waned. 


Hypocrisy and deceit. They're getting to be endemic in churches across the country.










*What is it with that state lately? 

Bishop Eddie Long Throws His First Rock: A Wayward Custard Cream Pie That Lands Back In His Own Face!

"I've got five rocks and I haven't thrown one yet." - Bishop Eddie Long

"With little fanfare or news coverage, the four sexual coercion lawsuits confronting Bishop Eddie Long had the first hearing recently, with both sides opting for mediation to avoid a trial." - Huffington Post

HYPE AND HYPOCRISY

One primary fault of America's Christian community: it never properly vets its leaders. Anyone can add a title or a degree to their name and get away with it. And in the case of "Bishop" Eddie Long, taking advantage of this fault has received a royal treatment.

I've always been wary of "honorary" degrees; you can buy one with a hefty donation to a college. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and leading homophobe has 19 of them (prominently displayed under glass in one of Focus' vast hallways, of course). Sometimes I wonder just how many boxes of Cracker Jack one has to eat to get one.* But today's Christian community has to look even deeper into the credentials of someone they automatically ascribe respect to: those "Master of Divinity" and "Ph.D." sobriquets might have come from an oddball bible-thumper school or an unaccredited seminary.

The Eddie Long scandal made me look past his titles of "Bishop" and "Ph.D": I found out just how warranted those titles are.

Not much. Long's title of "Bishop" comes from a break-away Baptist organization founded by - of course - self-appointed "bishops": the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. He separated from this "heretical" group back in 1998, but has conveniently kept the title. His "Ph.D." is from the unaccredited International College of Excellence.  So the protracted name of Bishop Eddie Long, Ph.D. is pretty shallow. All shallowness aside, however, it may be the only thing standing between him and total disaster, because the news of the day is that "Bishop" Eddie Long has agreed to enter into mediation:

Bishop Eddie Long agreeing to mediation of sexual coercion charges is an end-run around the universally accepted moral and ethical responsibilities of any ecumenical leader. Mediation of sexual allegation grievances is tantamount to an admission of "some" guilt, "some" form of ministerial misconduct. Innocent folk don't make deals if the claims against them are baseless and untrue. Mediation for the accused is a forfeiture of the right to ever claim innocence, and readers should be absolutely clear on this point.

"I've got five rocks." As David, however, Long's first "rock" is more like a custard cream pie that boomeranged back into his face: so what is he going to tell his congregation? For now he's staying mum. But a brave, stalwart sermon is due.  Is he going to cry and beg forgiveness ala Jimmy Swaggart? No. Let his mascara drip like Tammy Faye? No. Shed his jewelry, houses and cars and wear sackcloth and ashes? No. Tell everyone he just had the four young men around to carry his luggage?  Aaah...no.  Whatever the plan, whatever the speech, it will have to be unsurpassed entertainment, for that is what his flock and the rest of the country will demand. 

And he will give a speech. He can't slither silently away from anyone much less tens of thousands of people who entrusted him with their money and their souls. 

And speaking of his flock of sheep(le), how will they react on that momentous occasion? Cry? Moan? Scream? Deafen us with silence?  I would hope for the silence, but a flock like Eddie Long's, a flock that cheers an insipid "David and Goliath" speech, will doubtless shed tears for a tragic leader who needs to be forgiven. They will become part of that spectacle.

Therein lies the real tragedy of this massive hypocrisy.

Stay tuned.

*Unfortunately, I've never really been fond of Cracker Jack, so I guess I'll just have to save up one or two million for endowing some terribly obscure college.

Pushing Us Over The Edge: Holy Evil Lurches Towards Christmas

Can One Act Of Evil Kill The "Season Of Sharing"?

(CNN) -- A [former] Catholic priest, facing criminal charges and a lawsuit alleging that he sexually abused a teenage boy, is now charged with attempting to hire someone to kill the youth, authorities said Tuesday.

It's enough to make you lose all faith in humanity. 

The Christmas Season has settled upon us, feverishly puking its guts out into the aisles of WalMart and Walgreens, Saks and Macy's. The Christian Right is gearing up for its annual "War on Christmas": The Catholic League's Bill Donohue has shipped 50 Holy Nativity scenes to every state capitol with the hopes of snagging at least a dozen or so "atheist states" that might refuse to display them alongside "holiday trees." Retailers are hopeful but nervous: the great economic barometer of Christmass Season ales might not show signs of recovery. 

Elsewhere: the War in Afghanistan drones on; Uganda keeps up its witch-hunting of homosexuals;  cholera snakes its way from Haiti to the U.S.; France and Germany prepare for terrorism; President Obama tries to garner good will from foreign countries, while battling a disgruntled and polarized homeland; the Vatican allows for condoms as use for protection against HIV - twenty years after their use was proved to be effective.

Not a beautiful picture, to be sure, but the glimmer of hope that contains the essence of humanity, that trite-but-necessary, warm-and-fuzzy feeling of comfort the season always manages to bring us will be there, won't it? 

This year, I'm not so sure.

[Rev. John M.] Fiala, 52, of Dallas, was out on bond on other sexual assault charges involving the youth, now 18, when he allegedly attempted to negotiate the boy's murder, said Tom Rhodes, the teen's attorney. He was arrested last week after he offered an undercover agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety $5,000 to kill the teen, according to department spokeswoman Lisa Block.

"This guy," Edwards County Sheriff Don Letsinger said, "is an evil man."

While I've been writing about the extreme hypocrisy of the Christian Right for years, some things never cease to amaze and terrify me: the calumny of clergy like "Bishop" Eddie Long, the stupidity of proselytizers like Lou Engel, or the viciousness of people like the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer. Yet as frustrating as these self-righteous idiots may be, I have always been able to maintain a basic faith in humanity. 

That, however, might change: the machinations of  Reverend John Fiala and his ilk have become so blatant, so intense this past week, that I have trouble seeing any spark of humanity at the end of this dark, dark tunnel. 

CONSIDER THESE ASPECTS OF EVIL:

SEX and GREED

Indicted: Pastor Johnny William “Bill” Cabe, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, on felony charges of sexual abuse of an 11-year-old boy. "Pastor Bill" had already served seven years in prison for conning $8 million from his congregation's "investors." (While guarding their money, somebody forgot to guard their kid.) 

SARAH PALIN'S ALASKA

Guilty: Pastor Carl  Ekamrank, of a Moravian Church (Alaska) of one count of second-degree sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl. This plea, however, enabled him to reduce the counts from five down to one. He faces five years in prison with ten years probation. (Is sexual abuse now doled out in degrees?)

FUN AND GAMES

Convicted: Former coach of Riverside Christian School (Lost Creek, KY), Dennis Jackson, of nine counts of sexual abuse against a number of boys 11-years-old and older. Jackson, by the way, committed the crimes while he was in his sixties. (Proves he hadn't lost his athletic charm.)

BAD SPIRITS

Sentenced: Pastor Marcus Ondiegi of Nyakwatha, Kenya, sentenced to 50 years in prison for repeatedly raping an 11-year-old orphan and infecting her with HIV. Ondiegi had told the girl's grandmother that he needed to pray over the girl to ward off "bad spirits." He raped her for six consecutive days until she escaped. (His conviction, however, put him in "bad spirits.")

TELEVANGELICAL BUSINESS AS USUAL

Sentenced: Pastor Samuel Salanky of Bethany Mission Center (NYC) to 57 months in prison plus restitution for conning "investors" out of approximately $3 million. Salanky was a televangelist who broadcast a program on a Gospel network. (The program was broadcast in the Far East -  obviously not too far for him to get caught.)

SMOTHERING WITH LOVE

Appeal filed: Pastor Matt Baker of  Crossroads Baptist Church (Waco, TX). Baker was found guilty of murdering his wife (administering sedatives, suffocating her with a pillow) and is currently serving a sentence of 65 years. (What the hell is this guy appealing?)

UNDER GOD'S ROOF

Convicted: Former Pastor Marvin James Lowe of Arbeka Indian Baptist Church (Weleetka, OK) on six misdemeanor counts of domestic abuse. He was originally charge with six counts of sexual abuse of girls under 14 in his church. (He knew somebody who knew somebody.)

SPREADING THE LOVE

Charged: Former Pastor David Love of New Hope Baptist Church (Independence, MO), with the first-degree murder of his insurance agent Randy Stone, who was the husband of Love's lover,  Teresa Stone.  He topped the crime by giving the eulogy at his victim's funeral. (A rather twisted take on "Double Indemnity," but Teresa Stone doesn't look as good as Barbara Stanwyck.)

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Sentenced: Pastor Steven G. Welty of Glory House Fellowship (Sequim, WA) to 26-1/2 years to life. Pastor Welty was convicted of six counts of child rape, six counts of child molestation and six counts of incest occurring with the same girl from the time she was 4-years-old until she was 11. (He may have been sorry during those seven years, but relatives are always the last to know.)

Crawling Back To That Spark Of Humanity

Yes, my asides were flippant: the human mind provides safeguards against acute depression. The fact is the list of crimes was longer than I had ever imagined: besides these cases, dozens more were reported - ALL WITHIN THE LAST TWO WEEKS. So while "Silent Night" was droning on during the morning's grocery shopping, I was dealing with hypocrisy overload. "There must be some good ones out there" was trying to tap into my brain, but it was far too numb. Hours later, I'm still trying to fathom it all. 

Yes, there are good-spirited people out there. But they're not to be found on our screens or heard through our airwaves. They're not to be found attending Values Voter Summits. They're not to be found bloviating over microphones during rallies to "protect" marriage. They're not to be found praying in front of the Capitol, beseeching God to make us a Christian-Only Nation. They're not to be found preaching "love the sinner, hate the sin." 

No, the people with that spark of humanity, that basic goodness, cannot be found even amongst the rabble preaching about it. It can simply be found in the person standing next to you on the bus. In the person in front of you in the check-out line at the grocery. In the person you call brother, sister, son, daughter, husband, wife, lover, partner, or friend. In you.I guess the thing I hate most about the crimes committed by the "Reverend" John Fialas, the Bryan Fischers and the Lou Engles of our world is that they make it harder and harder to discover the spark of humanity in everyone else. They’re piling up, like some godawful pile of hypocritical manure.

Yes, the pile of hypocrisy is getting bigger and bigger and the needle of humanity is getting smaller. It’s there, of course, and there’s the entire Christmas season to find it.

Oh joy.

There Was A Boy: The Latest Suicide Negates Tony Perkins' Credibility

 "There's no correlation between inacceptance of homosexuality and depression and suicide." 

- Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council

Joseph Jefferson was a gay activist who graduated from from New York City's Harvey Milk High School. He was a mentor and advocate for gay teen youth. His worked included GMAD - Gay Men of African Descent; POCC - People of Color in Crisis; and,  he helped to promote LGBT events for the NYC area. 


Joseph Jefferson committed suicide by hanging himself this past weekend. He was 26 years old.

The Christian Right has been trying to distance itself from the recent spate of gay teen suicides. And in their hurry to negate any thoughts of responsibility, their logic falls apart. The above statement by Tony Perkins of Family Research Council is, of course, ludicrous: EVERYONE knows that the demonizing of gays by religion has been a primary cause of teen suicides. But what makes Perkins' statement so immensely disingenuous is that he knows it. He even gets in a little demonizing by saying that teen suicides occur because they "know" they are "abnormal."

"These young people who identify as gay or lesbian, we know from the social science that they have a higher propensity to depression or suicide because of that internal conflict." 

And who helps that propensity along? Encourages it, in fact.  Think about it.

THERE WAS A BOY



Although Joseph Jefferson was 26 years old, his last heart-breaking statements to his friends on Facebook shared the same thoughts of gay teens everywhere:
 

“I could not bear the burden of living as a gay man of color in a world grown cold and hateful towards those of us who live and love differently than the so-called ’social mainstream.’ Belonging is one of the basic human needs, when people feel isolated and excluded from a sense of communion with others, they suffer.

“I have been an advocate for my peers and most importantly youth because most have never had a deep emotional attachment to anyone. They don’t know how to love and be loved in return. The need to be loved can sometimes translate to the need to belong to someone or something. Driven by that need….. Most will do anything to belong.” 

"...To love and be loved in return." Yes, I got that too. Nat King Cole. "There was a boy..." Jefferson's words resonate with beauty and desperation: here was a man who was trying to help African-American gay youth to see that there was hope, even though he never really found that hope himself. He was like some person trapped in a burning house, screaming for everyone else to save themselves. Perhaps his desolation came from two sources: the Christian Right and the African-American community. Perhaps the hypocrisy was too great for him to bear after the Bishop Eddie Long scandal came out: he may have thought "Perhaps they're just out there to use us and abuse us."  


Many people in the Christian Right live in a love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin fantasy world, so much so that they almost believe it. Almost. For down deep in their minds, hearts and souls is the knowledge that to most people sin and sinner are rarely separated, and loving the sinner in spite of the sin takes too much effort, too much courage. Hate is so much easier. Jesus Christ knew that when he told people to "love thine enemy. Be good to those who despise you." At the time of Roman occupation, loving the enemy was unthinkable., it was insane, it was treason.

The defense of Tony Perkins is totally unsustainable. the Christian Right's culpability in gay suicides is overwhelmingly obvious: Joseph Jefferson took his own life because Tony & Friends made life unbearable for him, because hypocrites like Bishop Eddie Long humiliated him, and because he could no longer stand the onslaught of hatred coming from a supposedly "Christian Nation."


There was a boy
A very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far, very far
Over land and sea
A little shy
And sad of eye
But very wise
Was he


And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings
This he said to me
"The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return"

The Greatest Story Never Told Part II: If Eddie Long Is David, Who The Hell's Goliath?

Plus  Bonus Feature: 

CLASH OF THE LEGAL-EAGLE  TITANS!!!

 

A hypocrite is always judged by the degree of hypocrisy he or she is guilty of. For example, if we hear someone say that they really dislike liars, then we catch them in an innocent lie, we think it slightly hypocritical, but barely give it a second thought. But when we hear someone pass judgement in a moral sense and perceive that the judge has done worse, that enrages us.

"...and to every man that knows what God is saying to do and you’re still acting like the boys on the corner, God says you deserve death!”

                                                                             - Bishop Eddie Long    

Long's virulent and strident attacks on homosexuality may ratchet up his hypocrisy level beyond the stratosphere. Whatever the outcome, the dichotomy that was created within the last ten days will forever effect his credibility: who can explain away the photos? How could a man who is quoted as saying that God will severely punish a man for sleeping with a man turn around and befriend young men with homoerotic pictures? How can he explain away those relationships as "spiritual" without insulting those who want to believe him?

"I am not the man portrayed on television." He may not be, but he has placed himself in such a high position, such an idolized position, that there is no place for him to go but down. The dichotomy is too great. The hypocrisy will be deemed too huge for any "David" to overcome. 

America loves the "little guy" the "underdog." When you're down and out, capitalizing on your status can be your best bet. Eddie Long is certainly counting on the compassion inherent in America: that's why he chose the story of David and Goliath. It's ironic, of course, that the story of David and Goliath leads right into the story of Jonathan and David.  Eddie might have missed that irony. 

And "Bishop" Eddie Long has not yet defined exactly who he thinks "Goliath" is. If Long is going to put up a fight, the least he could do is tell everyone who his opponent is. Is he aiming for a broad metaphor? Does he want his followers to think that the entire world is sitting in judgment against him? Or is it our own "activist" justice system? Is he going into battle against the devil? He was unfair to have his followers so little to go on. Ahah! Perhaps it was a test to see just how loving, how faithful his flock would truly be. 

Or maybe it was a way to say "make up your own damn Goliath! Whatever you come up with, that's what I'm fighting." But that's unfair as well, making everyone do the work from something he created himself.

People will say that I'm beating a good man when he's down. Not really. It's more like a wrestling match where, when the other guy who's been beating you into a bloody pulp makes a wrong move and suddenly, you're on top of the brute and realize that you have to KEEP him down. Maybe all the people who know that, once it's exposed, they have to keep Eddie Long's hypocrisy in the fore, maybe they're Goliath.

Yes, Eddie Long is staring at Goliath in the form of  Spencer LaGrande, Jamal Parris, Maurice Robinson and Anthony Flagg and their resolve to keep his hypocrisy front and center. With each statement, Bishop Eddie Long's credibility grave has been dug deeper:

"They said bishop has been accused of something, and my heart dropped. And that was my time that God told me to release what I had to say."

Note that both Parris and LaGrande spoke in vague generalities just as Long did. People are hungry for the salacious particulars, but no one is unmuzzled as yet. Vagaries aside, with each statement from the prosecution, Long's support grows weaker (outside of New Birth, of course). Plaintive cries against an established person, however sotto voce they may seem, can grow louder each time, plucking at heartstrings.

Another reason these men might be believed: they didn't go to the media - the media came to them. Scripted? I doubt it. Bernstein isn't the kind of legal counsel to insist on scripting.

And speaking of Bernstein, she's a force to be reckoned with:

From her website:

B.J. has been recognized in Atlanta Magazine in it's Super Lawyer edition from 2008-2010 as one of the top 100 Lawyers in Georgia. She is the only female criminal defense attorney to make the top 100 list this year and overall one of only 11 women so recognized. Georgia Trend magazine named her to the Legal Elite list for the last 4 years and has individually profiled her as one of six of Georgia's "Power Women" in 2008.

Another force to be reckoned with: Craig Gillen (website):

As a criminal defense attorney, Mr. Gillen has won several courtroom victories as set forth on the Representative Cases page. He has successfully represented corporations, executives, professionals and businessman. Most recently, Mr. Gillen served as co-counsel in the successful defense of Mark Shelnutt who was accused of money laundering and one year prior to that, Mr. Gillen served as lead counsel in the successful defense of Jim Happ US. v. Happ. The charges in the Happ case involved allegations of a $1.9 billion fraud. Mr. Gillen's client was the only charged defendant to be acquitted.

When these two Titans clash, we may see a fight the likes of which we haven't seen since the O.J. Simpson trial: besides being two very forceful attorneys, however, their milieus have been very different in the sense that Gillen's has been mostly government and corporate while Bernstein has handled more individuals ...with emotions. Unfortunately for Eddie Long, these suits are on too personal  a level. Gillen will have to rely on disparaging the person of Anthony Flagg with the attempted robbery angle.

The silence and waiting will now seem interminable. The public wants details, statistics, financial accounts, screaming, tears and emotion., everything the trial of a hug hypocrite should be and everything Eddie Long can deliver. If hypocrisy of this magnitude dies of annui,  Eddie Long may come away with more than he deserves.

Just a thought.