Last year, homophobic Atlanta megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long told his bewildered flock at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church that he would fight allegations that he sexually took advantage of four teenage boys. The Bishop denied allegations, but his story looked fishy after photographs surfaced that looked very much like ones that could have been posted on Manhunt or Craigslist’s m4m personals. While the preacher’s muscles were quite impressive, his alleged hypocrisy was quite disturbing.
Today, Bishop Biceps went back on his word and elected not to fight the charges in court. Instead he reached a settlement and paid off the four young men who accused him of using his power to influence them into sexual relationships with him, according to CBS News affiliate WGCL. (Video Here)
“You can interpret that any way you want, but usually people do not settle cases unless there is some reason to do so,” said former DeKalb County Prosecutor J. Tom Morgan. “They had to reach a settlement if they did not want any statement by the Bishop on record….Nobody knows what the numbers are. I would be sure it’s in the millions.”
Not surprisingly, there are sheep in Long’s flock that are ignoring the obvious.
New Birth member Elder Dandridge said she’s glad the case is over. She said her pastor is innocent. “We’re very excited, very elated about what’s taken place. To God be the glory,” said Dandridge.
Yep, let’s just ignore the allegations and pretend the pictures of spandex and hot pants don’t exist.
