Eddie Long, Creflo Dollar, and the Black Church’s Sanctioning of Sexual Violence
by Tamura A. Lomax | The Feminist Wire
In September 2010 Bishop Eddie Long, prominent Atlanta pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, was accused of sexual improprieties with four young men—Anthony Flagg, Spencer LeGrande, Jamal Parris and Maurice Robinson. According to the suits, Long, an internationally known televangelist who had previously campaigned against gay and lesbian marriage, used his position, extravagant trips, including overseas, and lavish gifts such as housing, clothes, jewelry and cars, to coerce the young men into having sex while they were teenagers. Initially, the powerful megachurch leader denied all charges. However, as time progressed and more and more evidence was revealed, Long agreed to settle out of court for an alleged $25 million.
Obviously, this story has garnered quite a bit of media, academic, social network and water cooler attention. The reasons are many. For years Long, who once boasted about having more than 25,000 members, running an international corporation, pastoring a multimillion dollar congregation and “dealing with the White House,” functioned more like a towering rock-star CEO than a church pastor. If driving through Atlanta or simply flipping through television stations, you were sure to catch a glimpse of his chiseled physique and dramatic form fitting flair. Almost always flanked by secret service like bodyguards and draped in a display of his riches, Long seemed infallible. He was indeed a [preacher] man’s [preacher] man in a significantly paternalistic culture. Thus, the world seemed to sit in attention at his feet for a while—well, at least 25,000 world citizens.
When Longs’ story of sexual impropriety first broke, many excitedly rushed to find a locale for judgment. Surely, someone was to blame. Some thought wrongdoing rested squarely on the shoulders of Long. Others vexingly believed the young men (and their mothers) were to blame—because they obviously “wanted it” (and because real—heterosexual—men wouldn’t allow same sex encounters). However, what many failed to realize is that contemporary Black Church culture, which serves as a significant site of history, community, spirituality, hope and transcendent possibilities for many including myself, creates a context for unchecked phallocentric lordship, which often sanctions rampant sexual violence, to include but not limited to physical, emotional, psychological, linguistic and representational. (Yes, sexual violence is more than the physical act of rape, and yes I am naming what happened between Long and the teenagers as violent. Sacred trust between an adult pastor (and others) and teenaged parishioners was broken.) Thus, there is plenty of blame to go around, for it was New Birth members who gave Long the kind of totalitarian authority that he had. Nevertheless, while sexual violence is communally ratified, the onus lies primarily with Long himself.
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