The Real Problem of Eddie Long and the Black Church

. 09/30/2010 . 6 Comments

The Bishop Eddie Long scandal is aiming a searing spotlight on black churches whose pastors seem to be more interested in saving up treasure troves of personal wealth than they are at saving souls from hell.  Bishop Long, who pastors a 25,000 member mega-church, is equally famous for his high-spirited sermons as he is for soaring the friendly skies in a private jet, traversing the Georgian roads in a $300,000 set of wheels, and for using his body as diamond studded billboard for DeBoers.

If we add all this to the fact that Bishop Long is widely known for his uncompromising opposition to gay sex but is being accused of coercing sex from young boys under his “spiritual” guidance, then we have all the makings of a Goliath who will certainly fall harder because of his sizable influence in not only the Atlanta area community, but also because of his vast presence in national and international politics and affairs.

And because most Americans love to see their “stars” plummet and crash to the ground, the Eddie Long saga is dominating the national media, the blogosphere, and social network sites such as facebook where several status updates reflect a “what’s Eddie Long done lately” motif.  Some are shaking their heads at Long’s apparent hypocrisy while others are maintaining a tenuous “innocent until proven guilty” stance.  Still others sadly comment on how this latest addition to a long line of scandals concerning black churches again places the oldest and most enduring African American institution in the cross-hairs of ridicule and derision.  But of course, even most of those who make this observation still vehemently defend the institution by suggesting that Eddie Long is just one man who does not represent the entire spectrum of the black church, and that the church and its membership should not be judged solely on the flamboyant and immoral behavior of one of its most “successful” and popular leaders.

But perhaps the media, the blogosphere, the Twitter and Facebook folks, and Long supporters are neglecting to backdrop this scandal in a context that reveals something even more troubling about the Long sex scandal and the black church’s role in the African American community–namely, that most African Americans, laymen and scholars alike, consider the black church as not only the oldest African American institution, but they also consider it the most viable and functioning institution.  It doesn’t take a panel of historians to point out what most people know about the black church—that it was key in securing civil rights for African American people, that several segments of the movement emanated directly from church leadership, and that since that time many black churches have been instrumental in initiatives that help to promote and stabilize black communities and black families.

But this is the problem–that the key institution to help promote African American people is the black church is one of the main reasons why so much of the momentum we accomplished during the civil rights movement has been squandered. Now I am not blaming all the ills of the black community on black churches, nor am I accusing the black church of being worthless as an instrument to be used for social progress and change (it’s obvious that it can be used to enact political gains via its record during the civil rights era).  But I am saying that it is not the IDEAL or PREFERRED choice for being the prime institution for black people and it can, and often does, hinder black success.

And why is this?

Because unlike other institutions such as schools, hospitals, political parties, business organizations, labor unions, etc., the black church is much more highly susceptible to abuse and manipulation.  True, all institutions are vulnerable to abuse by its leadership or members, but the black church, by its very nature,  has an astronomically high rate of being preyed upon by leaders such as Eddie Long.

And what makes the black church so radically assailable? The black church, like all churches, is based on BELIEVING IN THINGS WITHOUT PROOF.

No other institution has as its cornerstone the prerequisite that its members must surrender logic and reason and believe ideas and notions on mere assertion alone.  If one has attended a black church long enough, he or she has surely heard the often quoted Hebrews 11:1 which says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  So what African Americans have selected as their prime institution is an organization that allows invisible evidence to go unchallenged as truth.

(continued on page two)

D. Eric Harmon

D. Eric Harmon teaches African American Cultural Perspectives at Century Community and Technical College in Saint Paul, MN and is the director and producer of the documentaries "Bondage and the Bible" and "The Science of Race."

More Posts

Pages: 1 2

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Category: Guest Posts, Society and Culture, The Black Church


Fatal error: Uncaught Exception: 190: Error validating application. Application has been deleted. (190) thrown in /home/askhtcom/public_html/survivingdating.com/wp-content/plugins/seo-facebook-comments/facebook/base_facebook.php on line 1273
WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on your website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.