{"id":2377,"date":"2010-09-23T14:49:37","date_gmt":"2010-09-23T14:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2010\/09\/prominent-atlanta-minister-nam.php"},"modified":"2010-09-23T14:49:37","modified_gmt":"2010-09-23T14:49:37","slug":"prominent-atlanta-minister-nam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2010\/09\/prominent-atlanta-minister-nam","title":{"rendered":"Prominent Atlanta minister Named in Three Abuse Suits"},"content":{"rendered":"

(RNS) Bishop Eddie Long, a prominent Atlanta-area megachurch leader,
\nhas been sued by three young men accusing him of sexual misconduct.
\nLong, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia,
\nGa., has denied claims of sexual abuse and gifts of cash, cars and
\novernight trips by the men.
\nAfter two suits had been filed on Tuesday (Sept. 21) by a
\n20-year-old and a 21-year-old, Long spokesman Art Franklin told CNN the
\nminister “categorically and adamantly denies these allegations.”
\nOn Wednesday, the Bernstein Firm of Atlanta announced a third man,
\nage 23, had sued with similar allegations.
\nAll three suits, filed in DeKalb County, alleged that Long “has a
\npattern and practice of singling out a select group of young male church
\nmembers and using his authority as bishop over them to ultimately bring
\nthem to a point of engaging in a sexual relationship.”
\nThe suits claim that Long celebrates a ceremony with victims
\ninvolving jewelry and talk of Bible verses, creating a covenant in which
\nthey are designated as his “spiritual sons.”
\nB.J. Bernstein, one of the lawyers defending the young men, told CNN
\nthat Long gradually developed relationships with them.
\n“He gets to know them and gets the trust and then, bit by bit —
\nfirst it’s a hug, just like any sexual predator,” she said. “It just
\nslowly breaks down.”
\nLong is a celebrated African-American minister whose church hosted
\nthe 2006 funeral of Coretta Scott King, the widow of the Rev. Martin
\nLuther King Jr. Their daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, is a minister at
\nthe church.
\nLong, who has marched in a protest against gay marriage, was
\ninvestigated by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, for questionable
\nfinances, along with five other ministries. His was one of three that
\ngave “incomplete responses” to the probe, Grassley said in 2009.
\n— Adelle M. Banks
\nCopyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of
\nthis transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written
\npermission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(RNS) Bishop Eddie Long, a prominent Atlanta-area megachurch leader, has been sued by three young men accusing him of sexual misconduct. Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., has denied claims of sexual abuse and gifts of cash, cars and overnight trips by the men. After two suits had been filed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nProminent Atlanta minister Named in Three Abuse Suits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2010\/09\/prominent-atlanta-minister-nam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prominent Atlanta minister Named in Three Abuse Suits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(RNS) Bishop Eddie Long, a prominent Atlanta-area megachurch leader, has been sued by three young men accusing him of sexual misconduct. Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., has denied claims of sexual abuse and gifts of cash, cars and overnight trips by the men. After two suits had been filed…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2010\/09\/prominent-atlanta-minister-nam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-23T14:49:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"aroan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Prominent Atlanta minister Named in Three Abuse Suits","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2010\/09\/prominent-atlanta-minister-nam","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Prominent Atlanta minister Named in Three Abuse Suits","og_description":"(RNS) Bishop Eddie Long, a prominent Atlanta-area megachurch leader, has been sued by three young men accusing him of sexual misconduct. Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., has denied claims of sexual abuse and gifts of cash, cars and overnight trips by the men. 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