By David Gushee
The city of Atlanta has been riveted this week by sexual-coercion lawsuits filed by four young men against megachurch pastor Eddie Long, who leads a wealthy 25,000-member congregation in nearby Lithonia. It has been major news all week, even jumping to the front page of the New York Times on Sunday.
I do not write as one who has any information whatsoever about the truth of the charges against Rev. Long. In his own brief comments on Sunday, Bishop Long neither denied nor confirmed the charges against him.
Regardless of the facts in this particular situation, I do want to offer a few comments about some of the issues raised by this and other similar cases. These comments are triggered especially by some of the confusions that seem to surface whenever clergy sexual misconduct and abuse issues arise:
- Ministers who fall into sexual misconduct will often begin their denials/defenses by claiming, “I’m just human; I never said I was perfect.” Bishop Long said something like this on Sunday morning. Such statements are obviously true. But it is a confusion to understand this ministerial humanity and imperfection as exempting ministers from their basic moral responsibilities.
- When married ministers commit sexual misconduct, they violate their marriage vows. But it is a confusion to think that marital vows are the only things violated in these situations. Ministers are certainly bound by the same standards of sexual morality as other Christians. But if their violation of those standards involves sexual contact with members of their own congregations, they are also guilty of preying on those they are responsible to serve. This is a different sin than “just” committing adultery or violating a marriage covenant. It is a violation of the meaning of the call to ministry, an act of professional misconduct, and an act of harm done to those whom the minister has pledged to serve.
- When ministers commit sexual misconduct with members of their congregations, this is wrong for the reasons just outlined. But when that sin involves children, even teenage children, it is egregious in a different way, because it involves the exploitation of the particular vulnerability of a child. If we treat all sexual contact between ministers and parishioners as an exploitation of the power held by the minister over the congregant, how much more serious a violation is this when it also involves the power of an adult over a child? There are good reasons why criminal law enforcement gets involved in cases involving children. These are crimes, not just sins.
- Our morally lax culture responds to episodes of clergy sexual misconduct with some combination of fascination, disdain and cheap grace. The public is titillated, frowns in disapproval and generally assumes that because everyone has skeletons in their closet then a quick forgiveness is called for as long as the minister weeps out some version of a confession. The church often falls prey to this same pattern. Instead, we should be capable as Christians both of offering forgiveness and of refusing to cheapen it.
- Between our tolerant non-judgmentalism and our cheap forgiveness, we risk losing the concept of accountability. We rush right from “everyone has feet of clay” to “forgive seventy times seven.” We drift away from the concept that actions have appropriate consequences. In the case of verified ministerial misconduct, these consequences at least need to include some kind of congregational censure and removal from ministerial service either temporarily or permanently. Even if one who has been harmed by a minister chooses to forgive that minister, and even if a congregation harmed by a minister’s conduct chooses to forgive that harm, the minister’s actions still should be met with consequences commensurate with their offenses. Otherwise we slip toward moral chaos.
- Every minister, like every human, and especially every person holding great power, needs to be hemmed in by structures that force transparency and accountability. Maybe most readers of this column are not confused by this. But this is not true everywhere. It seems pretty obvious from the outside that Rev. Long had managed to create a situation in which he had a great deal of autonomy in terms of scheduling and finances. Because we are sinners, we need checks and balances, with doors and calendars and church checkbooks that are literally open for inspection at all times. We need this transparency and accountability to avoid temptation, the appearance of wrong or wrong itself.
Every accusation of clergy sexual misconduct or abuse offers churches and ministers an opportunity to check their hearts, policies and practices. This is one of those moments — if we are paying attention.