This is a list of scandals related mostly to American evangelical Christians. (Roman Catholic clergy and high-profile leaders from New Religious Movements are not within the scope of this list.)
One of the most famous evangelist scandals involved Canadian-born Aimee Semple McPherson in the 1920s, who allegedly faked her own death. She later claimed that she had been kidnapped, but a grand jury adjourned with no indictment, saying it had not enough evidence to proceed. Roberta Semple Salter, her daughter from her first marriage, became estranged from Semple McPherson and successfully sued her mother's attorney for slander during the 1930s. As a result of this she was cut out of her mother's will. Aimee Semple McPherson died in 1944 from an accidental overdose of barbiturates.
Lonnie Frisbee was an American Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" in the late 1960s and 1970s who despite his "hippie" appearance had notable success as a minister and evangelist. Frisbee was a key figure in the Jesus Movement and was involved in the rise of two worldwide denominations (Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard Movement). Both churches later disowned him because he struggled with homosexuality, which he always taught was sin, removing him first from leadership positions, then ultimately firing him. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1993.
Gortner rose to fame in the late 1940s as a child preacher, but he had simply been trained to do this by his parents and he had no personal faith. He was able to perform "miracles" and received large amounts of money in donations. After suffering a crisis of conscience, he invited a film crew to accompany him on a final preaching tour. The resulting film, Marjoe, mixes footage of revival meetings with Gortner's explanations of how evangelists manipulate their audiences. It won the 1972 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, but was not shown widely in the Southern United States due to fears that it would cause outrage in the Bible Belt.[1]
Hargis was a prolific author and radio evangelist. Hargis formed American Christian College in 1971 to teach fundamentalist Christian principles. However, a sex scandal erupted at the College, involving claims that Hargis had sex with male and female students. Hargis was forced out of American Christian College's presidency as a result. Further scandals erupted when members of Hargis' youth choir, the "All American Kids", accused Hargis of sexual misconduct as well. The college eventually closed down in the mid-1970s. Hargis denied the allegations publicly.
In 1986, evangelist Jimmy Swaggart began on-screen attacks against fellow televangelists Marvin Gorman and Jim Bakker. He uncovered Gorman's affair with a member of Gorman's congregation, and also helped expose Bakker's infidelity (which was arranged by a colleague while on an out-of-state trip).[2] These exposures received widespread media coverage. Gorman retaliated in kind by hiring a private investigator to uncover Swaggart's own adulterous indiscretions with a prostitute.[3] Swaggart was subsequently forced to step down from his pulpit for a year and made a tearful televised apology in February 1988 to his congregation, saying "I have sinned against you, my Lord, and I would ask that your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgiveness."[4][5]
Swaggart was caught again by California police three years later in 1991 with another prostitute, Rosemary Garcia, who was riding with him in his car when he was stopped for driving on the wrong side of the road. When asked why she was with Swaggart, she replied, "He asked me for sex. I mean, that's why he stopped me. That's what I do. I'm a prostitute."[6]
A self-proclaimed prophet and faith healer in the 1980s, Popoff's ministry went bankrupt in 1987 after magician and skeptic James Randi and Steve Shaw debunked his methods by showing that instead of receiving information about audience members from supernatural sources, he received it through an in-ear receiver.[7]
A number of incidents involving California-based televangelist Morris Cerullo caused outrage in the United Kingdom during the 1990s. Cerullo's claims of faith healing were the focus of particular concern. At a London crusade in 1992, he pronounced a child cancer sufferer to be healed, yet the girl died two months later. Multiple complaints were upheld against satellite television channels transmitting Cerullo's claims of faith-healing, and a panel of doctors concluded that Cerullo's claims of miraculous healing powers could not be substantiated. Cerullo also produced fund-raising material which was condemned as unethical by a number of religious leaders, as it implied that giving money to his organisation would result in family members becoming Christians.[8]
Melissa Scott (known then as Melissa Pastore) married in Las Vegas her first husband, Paul J. Pastore, where they lived in Hollywood.[9][10] She starred with the name Babri Bridges in affiliation with Vivid Entertainment.[11] Later married to Dr. Eugene Scott, who died from prostate cancer 5 years after, she received his large amounts of assets.[12] She has fought many legal battles to end her images & videos circulating the internet.[13]
Warnke was a popular Christian evangelist and comedian during the 1970s and 1980s. He claimed in his autobiography, The Satan Seller (1973), that he had once been deeply involved in a Satanic cult and was a Satanic priest before converting to Christianity. In 1991, Cornerstone magazine launched an investigation into Warnke's life and testimony. It investigated Warnke's life, from interviews with over one hundred personal friends and acquaintances, to his ministry's tax receipts. Its investigation turned up damaging evidence of fraud and deceit. The investigation also revealed the unflattering circumstances surrounding Warnke's multiple marriages, affairs, and divorces. Most critically, however, the investigation showed how Warnke could not possibly have done the many things he claimed to have done throughout his nine-month tenure as a Satanist, much less become a drug-addicted dealer or become a Satanic high priest.
Tilton is an American televangelist who achieved notoriety in the 1980s and early 1990s through his paid television program Success-N-Life. At its peak, it aired in all 235 American TV markets. In 1991, Diane Sawyer and ABC News conducted an investigation of Tilton. The investigation, broadcast on ABC's Primetime Live on 21 November 1991, found that Tilton's ministry threw away prayer requests without reading them, keeping only the money or valuables sent to them by viewers, garnering his ministry an estimated $80 million US$ a year. In the original investigation, one of Tilton's former prayer hotline operators claimed that the ministry cared little for desperate followers who called for prayer, saying that Tilton had a computer installed in July 1989 to make sure that the phone operators were off the line in seven minutes. Tilton sued ABC for libel in 1992, but the case was dismissed in 1993, and Tilton's show was off the air by 30 October 1993.
Grant was investigated by James Randi regarding his faith healing claims. He was then imprisoned for tax evasion in 1996. After restarting his ministry upon release, TV news investigations in Atlanta, Georgia, and Richmond, Virginia, investigated his revival meetings and concluded his healing claims were false. A 2010 program on the British Channel 4 station also concluded that Grant's claimed supernatural abilities were fake.[14]
Moorehead, pastor of the Overlake Christian Church from the 1970s to June, 1998 was arrested in July, 1996 on a charge of indecent exposure in a public restroom in Daytona Beach, Florida. He stepped down amid allegations of molestation of adult members during baptism and wedding ceremonies that went as far back as 20 years earlier.[15]
Clements was a prominent figure within British evangelical Christianity. In 1999, he revealed he was in a homosexual relationship, resigned his pastorship, and separated from his wife. He had written a number of well-received books which were withdrawn from sale when the news broke.[16]
John Paulk (no relation to Earl Paulk) is a former leader of Focus on the Family's Love Won Out conference and former chairman of the board for Exodus International North America. His claimed shedding of homosexuality is also the subject of his autobiography Not Afraid to Change. In September 2000, Paulk was found and photographed in a Washington, D.C. gay bar, and accused by opponents of flirting with male patrons at the bar. Later questioned by gay rights activist Wayne Besen, Paulk denied being in the bar despite photographic proof to the contrary. Initially, FoF's Dr. James Dobson sided with Paulk and supported his claims. Subsequently, Paulk, who himself had written about his habit of lying while he openly lived as a homosexual, confessed to being in the bar, but claimed he entered the establishment for reasons other than sexual pursuits. Paulk retained his Board seat for Exodus, however he did so while on probation. Paulk did not run again for chairman of the board of Exodus when his term expired.
Paul Crouch is the founder and president of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, or TBN, the world's largest evangelical Christian television network, as well as the former host of TBN's flagship variety show, Praise the Lord. In September 2004, the Los Angeles Times published a series of articles raising questions about the fundraising practices and financial transparency of TBN, as well as the allegations of a former ministry employee, Enoch Lonnie Ford, that he had a homosexual affair with Crouch during the 1990s. TBN denied the allegations, claiming that Ford's claims were part of an extortion scheme and that the Times was a "left-wing and anti-Christian newspaper." In 2005, Ford appeared at the taping of the ION Television show Lie Detector. The show's producers decided not to air the show, and the outcome of the lie detector test was never released. Consequently, none of the allegations were substantiated.
Douglas Goodman, an evangelical preacher, and his wife Erica were pastors of Victory Christian Centre in London, England. The church was one of the largest in the United Kingdom. He came into notoriety when he was jailed for three and a half years for the sexual assault of four members of his congregation in 2004. VCC was closed by the Charity Commission, but his wife Erica started a new church, Victory to Victory, in Wembley. Douglas has upon his release resumed full pastoral ministry alongside his wife.[17][18][19][20][21]
Kent Hovind is an American Baptist minister and Young Earth creationist. He is most famous for "creation science" seminars, in which he argues for Young Earth creationism, using his self-formulated "Hovind Theory." He has been criticized by both the mainstream scientific community and other creationists. In 2006, Hovind, who also has a reputation as a tax protestor, was charged with falsely declaring bankruptcy, making threats against federal officials, filing false complaints, failing to get necessary building permits, and various tax-related charges. He was convicted of 58 federal tax offenses and related charges, for which he is currently serving a ten-year sentence.[22]
Ted Haggard was the pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado and was the president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) from 2003 until November 2006. Haggard's position allowed him occasional access to President George W. Bush. In 2006 it was alleged that Haggard had been regularly visiting a male prostitute who also provided him with methamphetamine. Haggard admitted his wrongdoing and resigned as pastor of New Life church and as president of the NAE. The high-profile case was significant also because it immediately preceded the 2006 mid-term elections and may have even affected national voting patterns. In January 2009, Haggard admitted to a second homosexual relationship with a male church member on CNN-TV and other national media, and when asked, would not directly answer a question about his other possible homosexual relationships.[23] Ted Haggard has recently started a new church.[24]
Paul Barnes is the founder and former senior minister of the evangelical church Grace Chapel in Douglas County, Colorado. He confessed his homosexual activity to the church board, and his resignation was accepted on 7 December 2006.[25] He started the church in his basement and watched it reach a membership of 2,100 in his 28 years of leadership. This scandal was notable because it was similar to Ted Haggard's (above), it occurred in the same state (Colorado) and around the same time (late 2006).
In 2006, Latham, the senior pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church and a member of the powerful Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, was arrested for "offering to engage in an act of lewdness" with a male undercover police officer.[26]
Kenyan-born Deya moved to the United Kingdom in the 1990s and started a number of churches. He claims to have supernatural powers that allow him to make infertile women become pregnant and give birth. However, police investigations in the UK and Kenya concluded that Deya and his wife were stealing Kenyan babies. Deya was arrested in London during December 2006, and following a long legal process it was reported in September 2011 that he would be extradited to Kenya to face child abduction charges.[27]
In October 2007, televangelist Richard Roberts (son of the late televangelist Oral Roberts), was president of Oral Roberts University until his forced resignation on 23 November 2007. Roberts was named as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging improper use of university funds for political and personal purposes and improper use of university resources.[28]
Earl Paulk (no relation to John Paulk) was the founder and head pastor of Chapel Hill Harvester Church in Decatur, Georgia from 1960 until the 1990s. A number of women from the congregation came forward during the 1990s and 2000s, claiming that Paulk had sexual relations with them; charges of child molestation were also made. Some of these claims have subsequently been proven correct. Moreover, Donnie Earl Paulk, the current senior pastor of the church and nephew of Earl Paulk, had a court-ordered DNA test in 2007 which showed that he was Earl's son, not his nephew, which means that Earl and his sister-in-law had had a sexual relationship which led to Donnie's birth.[29]
Privette is a Baptist pastor, conservative activist, and politician in the US state of North Carolina. Privette was president of the Christian Action League and a prominent figure in North Carolina moral battles. In 2007, Privette resigned as president of North Carolina's Christian Action League and from the Board of Directors of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, following revelations on 19 July that he had been charged with six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution.[30]
Weeks married fellow evangelist Juanita Bynum in 2002, but they separated in May 2007. In August 2007, Weeks physically assaulted Bynum in a hotel parking lot and was convicted of the crime in March 2008. The couple divorced in June 2008 and Weeks remarried in October 2009.[31]
Bishop Michael Reid (born 1944) is a Christian evangelist in Essex, England and founder of Michael Reid Ministries who resigned from the role of pastor at Peniel Church in April 2008, after admitting to an eight-year extra-marital sexual relationship. The scandal was widely reported online[32][33][34] and in UK newspapers.[35][36] He has since re-developed an itinerant evangelistic ministry and has been speaking at a number of churches in the UK and overseas.
Joe Barron, one of the 40 ministers at Prestonwood Baptist Church, one of the largest churches in the United States with 26,000 members, was arrested on 15 May 2008 for solicitation of a minor after driving from the Dallas area to Bryan, Texas, in order to allegedly engage in sexual relations with what he thought to be a 13 year-old girl he had met online. Barron's online communications had in fact been with undercover law enforcement official.[37][38][39]
Canadian Todd Bentley rose to prominence as the evangelist at the Lakeland Revival in Florida, which began in April 2008. Bentley claimed that tens of thousands of people were healed at the revival. However, in August 2008, he stepped down permanently when it was revealed he was separating from his wife, Shonnah, and was in a relationship with Jessa Hasbrook, a member of his staff.[40]
Australian Evangelist Michael Guglielmucci spent two years claiming he was battling terminal cancer. He preached about his battle and performed songs he wrote detailing his daily struggle, frequently with the help of an oxygen mask. In 2008 it was revealed that Guglielmucci was faking the cancer in order to cover symptoms of stress created by an addiction to pornography which he had kept from his wife and children.
Ergun Caner grew up in suburban Ohio, but after 9/11, presented himself to churches and other organizations as having been raised and trained in Turkey and Egypt as a militant jihadi to wage war in the US.[41][42] He and his brother Emir authored books explaining Islam to evangelicals containing many basic mistakes, displaying a rudimentary rather than expert understanding of the religion.[43] Ergun's prominence and popularity propelled him to the position of dean at the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School of Liberty University.[44] In early 2010, Reformed apologist James White questioned Caner's claims to have debated Muslim scholars and representatives of virtually all religions on college campuses across the country.[45] Legal documents located by Christian and Muslim bloggers demonstrated the fraudulence of Caner's constructed life narrative.[46] Sound clips from his preaching contained supposed quotes in Arabic that turned out to be gibberish.[47] Liberty's subsequent investigation resulted in Caner's not having his contract renewed for the position of dean in the summer of 2010, demoting him to professor.[48][49] He took up a new post at Arlington Baptist College in 2011.[50]
Penn Bullock and Brandon K. Thorp of the Miami New Times reported on 4 May 2010, that on 13 April 2010, Christian leader George Alan Rekers was photographed at Miami International Airport returning from an extended overseas trip with a twenty-year-old "rent boy", or gay male prostitute, known as "Lucien" (later identified as Jo-Vanni Roman). Given his opinion on homosexuals and homosexual behavior, the scandal surrounds Rekers' decision to employ a homosexual escort as a traveling companion, and how that runs contrary to Rekers' public stances on such issues.
Rekers claimed that Lucien was there to help carry Rekers' luggage as Rekers had allegedly had recent surgery, yet Rekers was seen carrying his own luggage when he and Lucien were spotted at the airport.[51] On his blog, Rekers denied having sex with the man.[52] In subsequent interviews, Roman said Rekers had paid him to provide nude massages daily, which included genital touching.
In September 2010 several civil complaints were filed against Bishop Eddie L. Long by men that stated Mr. Long used his position as the church leader to entice or coerce the men into consensual sexual relationships in exchange for money, travel and goods. At a press event on 26 September 2010 Bishop Long stated he would fight the civil complaints in court and would not comment on the allegations. On 27 May 2011, Bishop Long settled the matter out of court.[53] The Canadian documentary series, Sex Scandals in Religion covered the Long case.[54]
In December 2010, televangelist Marcus Lamb, the founder of the Daystar Television Network, admitted on television that he had been involved in an extramarital affair several years prior. He further alleged an extortion scheme against him. In late 2010 and early 2011, three former Daystar employees filed a series of lawsuits against Lamb and his wife, Joni, making allegations ranging from financial mismanagement in relation to the affair, to sexual harassment, and to wrongful termination.
Special Judge Dena Martin ordered former pastor Vaughn Reeves to serve consecutive six-year terms for each of nine fraud counts, in a scheme that cost about 2,900 investors $13.1 million.[55] Among aggravating factors, Martin found Reeves targeted people over age 65 and used religion to influence them. Reeves’ attorney plans to appeal.
Investigators said Reeves and his three sons used their now-defunct company, Alanar, to trick about 11,000 investors into buying bonds worth $120 million secured by mortgages on church construction projects.[56]
Instead, Reeves and his sons diverted money from new investments to pay off previous investors, pocketing $6 million and buying luxuries.[56]
Stephen Green, a former Chairman of the Conservative Family Campaign who attends an Assemblies of God Church, is head of Christian Voice, a Conservative Christian pressure group in the UK.
In January 2011, Green's former wife, Caroline Green, accused him of repeatedly physically assaulting her and their children, including one incident where he allegedly beat her with a weapon until she bled, and another in which their son allegedly required hospital treatment after having been beaten with a piece of wood.[57]
In February 2011, televangelist, founder and senior pastor of Glory House London, Dr Albert Odulele was charged with two counts of sexual assault, one involving a 14-year-old boy and another on a 21-year-old man. Although he initially denied the charges, he later pleaded guilty and confessed that he had been battling with his sexuality for many years. He was subsequently sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court, London, to 8 and 6 months in prison to run concurrently. He will be on the sex offenders register for 5 years. He is currently serving his sentence.[58]
In 2007, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) opened a probe into the finances of six televangelists who preach a "prosperity gospel".[59] The probe investigated reports of lavish lifestyles by televangelists including: fleets of Rolls Royces, palatial mansions, private jets and other expensive items purportedly paid for by television viewers who donate due to the ministries' encouragement of offerings. The six that were investigated are:
On 6 January 2011 Senator Grassley released his review of the six ministries response to his inquiry. He called for a further congressional review of tax-exemption laws for religious groups.[62]