Sex Scandal Hits Atlanta Area Megachurch
Sex Scandal Hits Atlanta-Area Megachurch
Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church is pictured Fri...
By DORIE TURNER, AP
6 minutes ago
DECATUR, Ga. —
The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her.
Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.
In truth, this is not the first _ or even the second _ sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair.
The living proof of that lie is 34-year-old D.E. Paulk, who for years was known publicly as Earl Paulk's nephew.
"I am so very sorry for the collateral damage it's caused our family and the families hurt by the removing of the veil that hid our humanity and our sinfulness," said D.E. Paulk, who received the mantle of head pastor a year and a half ago.
D.E. Paulk said he did not learn the secret of his parentage until the paternity test. "I was disappointed, and I was surprised," he said.
Earl Paulk, his brother, Don, and his sister-in-law, Clariece, did not return calls for comment.
A judge ordered the test at the request of the Cobb County district attorney's office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which are investigating Earl Paulk for possible perjury and false-swearing charges stemming from a lawsuit.
The archbishop, his brother and the church are being sued by former church employee Mona Brewer, who says Earl Paulk manipulated her into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. Earl Paulk admitted to the affair in front of the church last January.
In a 2006 deposition stemming from the lawsuit, the archbishop said under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was Brewer. But the paternity test said otherwise.
So far no charges have been filed against Earl Paulk. District Attorney Pat Head and GBI spokesman John Bankhead would not comment.
The shocking results of the paternity test are speeding up a transformation already under way in the church after more than a decade of sex scandals and lawsuits involving the Paulks, D.E. Paulk said.
"It was a necessary evil to bring us back to a God-consciousness," said the younger Paulk, explaining that the church had become too personality-driven and prone to pastor worship.
The flashy megachurch began in 1960 with just a few dozen members in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. Now, it is in the suburbs on a 100-acre expanse, a collection of buildings surrounding a neo-Gothic cathedral.
For years the church was at the forefront of many social movements _ admitting black members in the 1960s, ordaining women and opening its doors to gays.
At its peak in the early 1990s, it claimed about 10,000 members and 24 pastors and was a media powerhouse. By soliciting tithes of 10 percent from each member's income, the church was able to build a Bible college, two schools, a worldwide TV ministry and a $12 million sanctuary the size of a fortress.
Today, though, membership is down to about 1,500, the church has 18 pastors, most of them volunteers, and the Bible college and TV ministry have shuttered _ a downturn blamed largely on complaints about the alleged sexual transgressions of the elder Paulks.
In 1992, a church member claimed she was pressured into a sexual relationship with Don Paulk. Other women also claimed they had been coerced into sex with Earl Paulk and other members of the church's administration.
The church countered with a $24 million libel suit against seven former church members. The lawsuit was later dropped.
Jan Royston, who left the church in 1992, started an online support group for former members to discuss their crushed faith and hurt feelings.
"This is a cult. And you escape from a cult," she said. "We all escaped."
These days, Earl Paulk has a much-reduced role at the cathedral, giving 10-minute lectures as part of Sunday morning worship each week.
"My uncle is 100 percent guilty, but his accusers are guilty as well," D.E. Paulk said, declining to talk further about the lawsuits.
___
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Sex scandal, my hairy white ass!
Deuteronomy 25: 5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
He just thought his brother was dead, and was doing his duty.
Although...
This actually proves that the Bible is wrong. After all...
Leviticus 20:21 And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.
The Bible says that boy doesn't exist!
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
wow, a person in power abusing it, lard tundering, i never thought it could happen
I already posted this earlier in News!
You just have to wonder how much abuse is actually going on amongst churches worldwide. How much of it is covered up, how many people keep silent so that there is no scandal and people don't lose faith in God.
Psychologically wise there has to be a type of buffer surrounding these institutions because the general populace thinks that the Church and the Members of the Church are all good, so they can do no wrong.
Also of course is someone does do something that is wrong, and they pray to their Lord for forgiveness then all is fine and dandy, people believe them. The abuse continues. The church and it's members actually get away with a lot more than what is normally acceptable by society.
: Freedom - The opportunity to have responsibility.
: Liberty is about protecting the right of others to disagree with you.
"My uncle is 100 percent guilty, but his accusers are guilty as well," D.E. Paulk said, declining to talk further about the lawsuits.
Um, can I get a "WTF?!" from the congregation?
Nobody I know was brainwashed into being an atheist.
Why Believe?
... I already posted this, hope I'm not breaking any rrs rules,
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I found this listening to kpfk radio, my favorite station.
Robert Greenwald on, "Beneath The Surface", Show, see Audio archives, 5 pm Nov 19, 07
http://www.kpfk.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=260&Itemid=82
Atheism Books.
Another church scandal? Meh,i doesn't suprise me at all.
I'd be suprised if a week went by without a scandal, something to pray for i guess.
"It was a necessary evil to bring us back to a God-consciousness," said the younger Paulk
I think we are gonna need 2 WTFs over here!
How many God-damned megachurches are there in Atlanta? And are all of them involved in scandals?
"They always say the same thing; 'But evolution is only a theory!!' Which is true, I guess, and it's good they say that I think, it gives you hope that they feel the same about the theory of Gravity and they might just float the f**k away."
The mega church leader is in mega trouble.....*sigh*
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21888916/
I don't know if we can even call these scandals anymore. It's pretty much par for the course.
There are no theists on operating tables.
Yeah, Donnie Earl (D.E.) Paulk, the "sonephew" in question, was a really big factor in the beginning of Jay Bakker's Revolution ministry - Jay Bakker being the son of the infamous Jim Bakker, who I'm sure needs no introduction.
I just don't get these people. It's just another perfect example of this old southern "easy believism" that the Paulks, the Bakkers and the like use to justify their monstrous, hedonistic actions.