Finis Alonzo Crutchfield, Jr.

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Finis Alonzo Crutchfield, Jr. ((1916-08-22)22 August 1916^[1] - 21 May 1987(1987-05-21)^[2]) was a bishop in The United Methodist Church in the United States during the twentieth century. He was credited with bringing Oral Roberts into the Methodist Church^[3][4] (although Roberts later left) and served as a negotiator in the 1968 merge of the Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren Church.^[3] He died due to AIDS.^[1][5]

His death became an object of controversy due to speculation over the manner in which he contracted AIDS. He insisted to the end of his life that he was heterosexual and he did not admit to any high-risk activities.^[6] This resulted in some measure of popular panic that AIDS was communicable through casual contact, later disproven.^[1]

After his death claims were made by acquaintances and some fellow clergy that Bishop Crutchfield had lived for decades as a closeted homosexual which if true might indicate the vector for contraction of the disease. Belief that such a prominent public and religious figure had been gay had an effect on the perception of gays both within the public and within the gay community.^[1]

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Yoffe, Emily (October 1987). "The Double Life of Finis Crutchfield". Texas Monthly 15 (10): 190. ISSN 0148-7736. 
2. ↑ "In Memoriam". Daily Christian Advocate VII (2): 78. 1988-04-27. ISSN 0418-2685. 
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Finis Alonzo Crutchfield, Jr.". Orlando Sentinel. May 24, 1987. 
4. ↑ Harrell, David Edwin (1985), Oral Roberts: An American Life, p. 294, ISBN 978-0-253-15844-4 
5. ↑ "Bishop Finis Crutchfield, 70; A Methodist, Victim of AIDS". New York Times. May 25, 1987. 
6. ↑ "Hanky Panky tainted religious circles in 1987". The Tuscaloosa News. January 2, 1988. 

See also

• List of Bishops of the United Methodist Church