You gotta wonder . . .

There are so many times when supposed "men of God," i.e. Christian ministers, fall from grace through sexual scandals, and there seems to be a pretty high proportion of them with young men or teen age boys. Bishop Eddie Long is the most recent example. And it is all the more ironic when such a man has been an active anti-gay activist, supposedly in the name of God and the Bible. Yes, we don't know if he has done what he is charged with doing by four different young men. But what has come out so far does not convince me that this is totally made up. And his response today only increased my tendency to believe the young men are telling the truth.

Bishop Eddie Long has led marches in protest of gay civil rights. He even had Martin Luther King's daughter, the Rev. Bernice King under his sway in some sort of affiliated minister position in his megachurch -- and that's where they held the funeral for her mother, Coretta Scott King, with presidents and other dignitaries in attendance.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was not anti-gay, nor was Coretta. In fact, after MLK's death, Coretta and the movement took up gay rights along with their continuing fight for racial justice and the plight of the poor. So I thought at the time of her funeral that it was inappropriate to have it in that church -- but it is her daughter's church, and the facility could handle the crowds.

So -- I have to wonder: is God trying to send them a message? Trying to open the eyes of these preachers to stop preaching that homosexuality is a sin? Exposing them in their hypocrisy, because -- if God is all-knowing, as they seem to think -- don't they know he is watching them? So is he exposing them in order to expose their hypocrisy? I gotta wonder. Of course, that's not what I think -- but the point is: I wonder what they think? After all, they know whether they did it, whether they are struggling with the guilt, what their god thinks about what they've done.

Here are some excerpts from what Bishop Long said to his congregation this morning.

"There have been allegations and attacks made on me. I have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man. But I am not the man that's being portrayed on the television. That's not me. That is not me."

"I've been accused; I'm under attack. I want you to know, as I said earlier, I am not a perfect man. But this thing I'm going to fight."

Note: he does not say, "I am innocent; I didn't do what I am accused of." Only "I am not the man that's being portrayed on television . . . ." I am not a perfect man . . ." But "I'm going to fight."

Read closely: he doesn't say he didn't do what the young men said he did. As I read it, he says he is not the man that is being portrayed "in the media."

But it is the perfect defense for him to make to his congregation, who are disposed to believe him. He says, in effect: I'm humble, I'm a sinner, but there is a conspiracy to bring me down; I'm not perfect, but I am not who they (?) say I am.

Sounds highly likely to me that he did something inappropriate involving young men and sex. This is bad on two counts, not simply because it involves same-sex sex, but: (1) Even if the young men were of legal age of consent, it was an unequal relationship, one of power and trust and undue influence, so it's difficult to say it was by mutual consent of two mature adults; and (2) It is once again the huge hypocrisy where you have a man of god or a man of science or a political leader preaching one thing and doing another.

The walls of hypocrisy and prejudice are falling. This may just be one more. And maybe ??? God is making it happen??? Think about that, Bishop Long.

Ralph