Scandals that rocked the church in the past decade
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Posted by Edwin Nuwagabaon Sunday, January 2 2011 at 00:00
The shocking happenings that rocked the church these past 10 years threatened to tear it apart. The prayer for most Christians is that God blesses His house this coming decade and helps them fight the power of darkness that seeks to ruin it, writes Edwin Nuwagaba
Over the years, the church has been bathed in endless scandals - child molestation, rape, sodomy, extortion… name it. Let’s start from home.
In October 2006, something comic happened when a respected and popular pastor, David Kigganda, shocked the nation after he publicly divorced his wife, Hadijja Nassejje, for allegedly cheating on him with a chapatti maker. Around that time, he also revealed plans to take all their children for DNA testing.
In September 2008, Pastor Isaac Kiweweesi of Kasanga Miracle Centre, was also accused of sexually indulging young boys. A member of his church, David Arinaitwe, 28, claimed the pastor had sodomised him for years.
Then, Pastor Jackson Senyonga, 41, of Christian Life Centre, was questioned by the FBI over allegations that he fondled a 13-year-old girl aboard a United Airlines flight on August 16, 2008. He denied the allegations.
Also in 2008, three senior pastors from The Universal Church of The Kingdom of God convinced an HIV positive woman, Frances Adroa, that they would heal her, taking her car as payment for “the miracle to come”. After an endless wait, the lady ran to the authorities. The pastors were: Gilson Costa, Gerald Nkayi and Patrick Maserere.
In the same year, there was a similar case; Grace Kushemereirwe accused Pastor Imelda Namutebi of paying her to testify that her prayers had cured her of Aids way back in 1999. Pastor Namutebi was to pay Kushemereirwe Shs350,000 every month for this lie, but when she reneged, the latter threatened to spill the beans in 2005, so goons turned up at her house and beat her daughter to near-death. And as if that was not enough, Namutebi was also accused of “stealing” the man she is currently married to, Tom Kula, from another woman who had allegedly come to her for counselling.
In March 2009, self-confessed former homosexuals accused the renowned Catholic priest, Fr. Anthony Musaala, of being a homosexual. Paul Kagaba, who said he was a homosexual for eight years, told a press conference in Kampala that Musaala, a gospel music award-winner, regularly held parties for gays at his residence in Gayaza near Kampala. To add salt to injury, Musaala’s boy-band members accused him of sodomising them, creating a furore around the once popular priest. Police and church investigations into the case fizzled out but not before Musaala was given a set of rules to abide by from the Catholic Church, among them having a curfew.
And in the same year, the popular Pastor Robert Kayanja was accused by fellow pastors Martin Sempa, Solomon Male and Bob Kayiira of sodomising two boys. The case went on and on, with Kayanja saying he was being accused falsely. The victims were Samson Mukisa and David Mukalazi. Amidst investigations, the police said the two victims had retracted their statements, but the victims denied this. Even if he was on the front page of every newspaper, Pastor Kayanja still preached at his church with resilience as he comforted his congregation, saying he was only being witch hunted.
On the international scene
Now, away from Uganda, the Catholic Church found herself in a tight spot when she was exposed in the Murphy Report for failure to handle child abuse and subsequent cover-ups by the church hierarchy. The report was published in Ireland and stated that church authorities in Dublin covered up child sexual abuse until the mid 1990s. The problem was these clerics had known that the priests had raped children for decades but chosen to protect them. They did not tell the police, ignored the cries of the children and parents and moved the guilty paedophile priests to “safer” parishes, burying their scandals.
The three-volume report found that the “maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of its assets” were prioritised over justice for the victims. In this incidence, a fifth high-ranking cleric, Limerick Bishop Donal Murray, stood down after he was singled out for mishandling allegations against an abusive cleric.
But the Anglican Church also had its fair share of scandal. Having ordained the openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire in 2003, the Anglican Church almost split in 2009 over the ordination of a lesbian Episcopal bishop, 55-year-old Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool. The election of the lesbian bishop raised very serious questions about the Episcopal Church and its position in the Anglican Communion. Glasspool has lived with the same female partner since 1988.
And now with conservative Anglican bishops from Africa like Uganda’s Archbishop Luke Orombi and Nigeria’s Archbishop Peter Akinola opposed to the gay bishops, one can only wonder whether Canterbury still has influence on the entire Anglican fraternity - which already has elements threatening to break away. Conservative Africans are bitter that new trends and culture are penetrating and breaking the traditional ideals of the Anglican Communion. The Times reported that the influential American Anglican Council was among the first of the conservative bodies to condemn the latest election, accusing the Episcopal Church of a further departure from biblical teaching.
Amidst the Anglican Church’s troubles, Pope Benedict XV1 said that he was ready to welcome the disgruntled members of the Anglican Communion to the Catholic faith. Was this mockery or was it simply taking advantage of the situation? These were questions from sceptics about whether the two faiths could once again be reunited.
And who can forget the case of Kenyan-born Gilbert Deya, who claimed to have a supernatural ability to make infertile women pregnant? Deya’s case only got stranger when a UK-Kenyan investigation concluded that he and his wife were stealing Kenyan babies and smuggling them into the UK. The Kenyan police alleged that the ministry was a baby-snatching ring and in 2006, called for his extradition by the UK, which is, unfortunately, where he still remains - Deya moved to the UK in the 1990s and started several churches.
10 Sex Scandals that Rocked the Christian Church
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 | 12:30 PM
by Shirea L. Carroll
http://www.essence.com/news/hot_topics_4/sex_scandals_christian_church_eddie_long.php#ixzz1A1aeoqjm
"This is difficult, difficult for everybody. This is the most difficult time in my entire life," said Bishop Eddie Long addressing his New Birth Missionary Baptist Church congregation on Sunday in Georgia. In one week, Long's life has changed dramatically, but he refuses to retreat. The Pastor announced to the 30,000 member mega church in Lithonia, Georgia, after making a numerous amount of headlines last week for the homosexual accusations brought against him -- he will not step down from his leadership role as Pastor.
This comes as a surprise to some, especially the four young men who have all brought lawsuits against the Bishop claiming Long coerced and seduced them into inappropriate sexual relationship that compromised Long's spiritual guidance and authority. Spencer LeGrande, a 22-year-old member of New Birth in Charlotte, NC claims that in 2005 Long told him he would be his "dad" and took him on a trip to Kenya where Long allegedly gave him a sleeping pill and the two engaged is sexual acts that Long described as a "healthy component of [LeGrande's] spiritual life," according to the lawsuit.
In the last 10 years we have had our share of sex scandals that have rocked the Christian church. Black and White -- religion sees no color -- all of these individuals were either accused, admitted to, or found guilty of heinous sexual crimes with individuals in or out of their church establishment, ultimately shaming their families, congregation, and themselves.
1. John Paulk, 2000
John Paulk, former leader of the Love Won Out conference, was also author of the autobiography "Not Afraid to Change," his story about being delivered from homosexuality. However, in September 2000, Paulk was photographed in a Washington, D.C. gay bar flirting with male patrons. Paulk initially denied the claims, but later confessed to being in the bar, adding that he did not enter the bar for sexual pursuits.
2. Douglas Goodman, 2004
Evangelist Douglas Goodman and his wife Erica were pastors of Victory Christian Centre, one of the largest churches in London, England, with a very popular televised ministry. After sexually assaulting four female churchgoers, Douglas Goodman was sentenced and jailed for three and a half years. VCC was closed, but after his release from prison Goodman joined his wife Erica in pastoral ministry at her newly established Victory to Victory church.
3. Ted Haggard, 2006
Ted Haggard was the pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as well as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals from 2003-2006. In 2006, it was revealed that Haggard had been regularly visiting a male prostitute who also provided him with drugs. Haggard admitted to his solicitation and resigned as pastor of his church and as president of the NAE. In 2009, Haggard admitted to a second relationship with a male church member on CNN-TV.
4. Paul Barnes, 2006
Paul Barnes, in his 28 years as a pastor, founded the Grace Chapel church in Douglas County, Colorado, with a few dozen people in his home basement. With time, the church's membership grew to 2,100 loyal followers. In 2006, Barnes confessed to homosexual activity and resigned. Many believe he was so forthright because of Ted Haggard's scandal, which happened at the same time in the same state.
5. Lonnie Latham, 2006
The Southern Baptist Convention, or the SBC, is an extremely powerful movement not only amongst Southern Baptists but Baptists nationwide. In 2006, Lonnie Latham, member of the SBC Executive Committee and senior pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church, was arrested for allegedly inviting a male undercover Oklahoma City police officer to his hotel room for sex. Latham urged people not to believe it, and was later found not guilty in a one day trial for the misdemeanor.
6. Earl Paulk, 2007
Earl Paulk, sometimes considered the father of the religious sex scandal, has scandals (plural) that stretch over a decade. The late Earl Paulk was the founder and head pastor of Chapel Hill Harvester Church in Decatur, Georgia, from 1960 until the late 90s. During his time as pastor, a number of women from the congregation came forward claiming that they had sexual relations with Paulk, many of which were proven true. However it was the scandal involving Donnie Earl Paulk, the current senior pastor of the church and nephew of Earl Paulk, that was the most shocking of them all in. In 2007, Paulk D.E. Paulk took a court-ordered DNA test which showed that he was Earl's son, not his nephew -- sadly proving Earl and his sister-in-law had had a sexual relationship. Earl Paulk, who passed away in 2009, is said to be the longtime mentor of Bishop Eddie Long.
7. Coy Privette, 2007
Coy Privette is one of the famous Baptist ministers in the state of North Carolina, as the longtime head of the N.C. Christian Action League. In 2007, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Kannapolis Police Department charged Coy Privette with six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution. Privette, who was 74 at the time, was the Cabarrus County Commissioner and a former N.C. State Representative.
8. Joe Barron, 2008
Before there was "Dateline: How To Catch A Predator," there was Joe Barron -- one of the 40 ministers presiding over the 26,000 members at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. Barron, a marriage counseling pastor, was caught in the web of an internet crackdown on pedophiles when he was arrested in 2008 for solicitation of a minor. Barron made the drive from the Dallas area to Bryan, Texas, in order to allegedly engage in sexual relations with what he thought to be a 13-year-old girl he met online. The "girl" turned out to be an undercover law enforcement official. At the time of the arrest, police found found condoms, a webcam and headset in Barron's car.
9. Tony Alamo, 2008
In September 2008, FBI agents raided the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries headquarters in a child pornography investigation, after the mayor of Fouke, Arkansas, office had received complaints from former ministry members about allegations of child abuse, sexual abuse and polygamy. In late July 2009, Alamo was convicted on ten counts of transporting young girls and boys across state lines for sexual activities and pornography. On November 13, 2009, he was sentenced to the maximum punishment of 175 years in prison.
10. George Alan Rekers, 2010
George Alan Rekers, a far-right Christian leader was encountered and photographed at Miami International Airport returning from an extended overseas trip with a twenty-year-old gay male prostitute, known as a "rent boy." Given Rekers' opinion on homosexuals and homosexual behavior, his decision to employ a homosexual escort as a traveling companion, stirred up a scandal. Rekers initially claimed that the escort was there to help carry luggage, but later gave a new explanation for the trip on Facebook, "I deliberately spend time with sinners with the loving goal to try to help them." The escort claimed in subsequent interviews, that Rekers had paid him to provide nude massages daily, which included genital touching.
Read more: http://www.essence.com/news/hot_topics_4/sex_scandals_christian_church_eddie_long.php#ixzz1A1anjFzM
