ITC Seniors 2006

Long rebuts criticism at graduation

2006-05-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Bishop's defense gets both cheers, eye rolls at seminary
John Blake - Staff
Sunday, May 14, 2006

Bishop Eddie Lee Long confronted his critics Saturday when he delivered a passionate defense of his ministry during his commencement speech at an Atlanta seminary.

Long, urged on by cheers and shouts of "Sho' yo' right," compared his plight to that of a persecuted prophet. The senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Church in Lithonia had been snubbed by two commencement dignitaries who refused to appear with him on stage and criticized by seminary students questioning his integrity.

Long told the audience at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on Morehouse College's campus that he wasn't a "snake oil" preacher preaching prosperity and bashing gays, as some have charged. He was doing what a pastor is supposed to do.

"We come to cause conflict," said Long, his voice rising as he faced the graduates. "We come to challenge. When I preach a message and people say they enjoyed it, I feel like I've failed. I'm not up here for entertainment."

Long's remarks were addressed to his alma mater, the Interdenominational Theological Center. ITC, near the Georgia Dome, is not run by one denomination but is a consortium of six seminaries from various church traditions. Long appealed to ITC's ecumenical tradition to find common ground with his critics. He said he was also "disturbed" about issues such as the Iraq war and black poverty --- he wasn't concerned only with people prospering.

"We agree on far too much to be divided," he said.

Long's message --- like his ministry --- divided the crowd anyway. While plenty of people in the chapel bolted from their seats to cheer him, other sat stoically in their seats rolling their eyes.
A group of ITC students also wore green cords around their necks along with their family members to protest Long's appearance and handed out fliers before the ceremony.
The controversy began with ITC's students. They publicly released a letter this week protesting his appearance.

The six-page letter, addressed to Michael Battle, ITC's president, said Long's public remarks displayed arrogance, denigrated women and demeaned the value of theological education.
The controversy thickened when James H. Cone --- a prominent theologian who believes God identifies more with the poor than the prosperous, and so should church leaders --- announced that he would boycott the ceremony rather than appear with Long. The letter, along with the withdrawal of Cone, who was supposed to receive an honorary doctorate from ITC, and another boycott from a longtime ITC board of trustees member, loomed over the entire service.
Victor Cyrus-Franklin, one of the student leaders who wrote the letter, said Long's speech didn't change his stance.

"He said at the very beginning of his message that this ceremony was about us but he spent the majority of the time talking about himself," Franklin said.

The Rev. Amos Brown, a Morehouse graduate whose portrait hangs in the chapel along with that of King and others, said Long's presence "insulted" the founders of ITC.

His view of Long is that he claims to be a prophet but never takes an unpopular stand that would offend the political or economic power structure. Brown said Long will lead a march against gay marriage but wouldn't dare lead a march against President Bush protesting the war.

"If you're going to be disturbed about it, what are you going to do about it?" Brown said.

"The prophet has always been on the outside, speaking the truth to power. His [Long] is a muted voice. It has been uncertain."

Long's remarks also did not touch on the first concern raised by students in their letter --- his charity. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution article reported last year that a charity Long created to help the poor provided him with at least $3 million in salary, benefits and property --- making him its biggest beneficiary.

But graduating senior Sandy Maclin, who joined the 25,000-member New Birth church, said that he's not disturbed by the claims in his classmates' letter.

As he stood with his family outside the chapel following the service, he, too, compared his bishop to a prophet.

"A prophetic voice is often criticized and misunderstood," Maclin said. "They often have to stand on their own because they speak things the masses don't want to hear."

Not all at seminary welcome bishop

2006-05-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

John Blake - Staff
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, May 11, 2006

An Atlanta seminary's decision to invite Bishop Eddie Long to speak at its commencement has exposed rifts among black church leaders and threatens to disrupt the school's graduation Saturday.

The ceremony at the Interdenominational Theological Center was billed in part as a homecoming for Long, senior pastor of Georgia's largest church and an ITC graduate. The school is a consortium of six predominantly black seminaries located near the Georgia Dome.
But Long's invitation has:

> Caused prominent theologian James H. Cone, who was scheduled to receive an honorary degree, to boycott the ceremony.

> Prompted 33 graduating seniors to send a letter to the seminary's president questioning Long's theological and ethical integrity to be their commencement speaker.

> Led a 29-year member of ITC's board of trustees to boycott the ceremony.

A walkout, protest signs or a boycott are possible Saturday, student leaders said this week. "We could see a little bit of everything," said senior Joanne K. Bedford, who signed the letter criticizing Long's selection.

The controversy revolves around three emotionally charged issues: the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the future of the black church and --- a deeper issue --- how a Christian lives out his or her faith.

Long and Cone embody different answers.

Long preaches what is known as prosperity gospel, that God rewards the faithful with financial success. He declared in a 2005 interview that Jesus wasn't poor. In 2003 Long told a meeting of civil rights veterans in Atlanta that blacks must "forget racism" because they had already reached the promised land.

In 2004 Long led a march --- while carrying a torch lit at King's crypt --- where he called for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Cone is a King scholar whose influential books argue that Jesus identified with the poor and the oppressed, not the prosperous. A professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, he is considered the intellectual mentor for a generation of black pastors who came of age in the post-civil rights era.

He won't attend the commencement, he said, because he doesn't want to appear to condone Long's ministry.

"King devoted his life to the least of these," Cone said. "King could have been just like Bishop Long with all the millions he has, but he chose to die poor. He would not use his own message or his own movement to promote himself."

In a written statement, Long said he was a "firm supporter" of the seminary's mission and was honored by the invitation.

"Free speech, spirited debate and dialogue are the hallmarks of all great institutions of higher learning," Long said in the statement.

Michael Battle, ITC's president, said he was not embarrassed by Cone's decision.
"Jim's refusal to come does not detract from Bishop Long's ministry or message, and Jim's coming would not enhance his ministry or mission," Battle said.

Sandy Maclin a senior at ITC and a member of Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, supports Long's visit.

"Bishop Long is a servant leader," Maclin said. "He seems to be one willing to take risks and if taking risks allows him to be a beneficiary, we have to look at the masses who benefit as well."

Six-page letter

A group of ITC seniors, however, says Long's presence will detract from the school's mission.
In a six-page letter sent to Battle in March, 33 of 103 graduating seniors questioned Long's ethics, his remarks about women and black pastors and a 2003 sermon that Long gave at ITC that they said denigrated the value of seminary training.

The students also cited an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article that reported a charity that Long created to help the poor provided him with at least $3 million in salary, benefits and property.
They also said Long insulted pastors of small churches when, while defending his charity, he said: "You've got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that's supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering."

Brady Radford, president of the seminary's student government, said the average black church only has about 100 members or less. "To discredit the experience and pastoral leadership of those persons who pastor smaller churches is quite offensive," he said.

Students also cited Long's statement in a New Birth newsletter that women are more receptive to false teaching because of " their intuitive, emotional thinking."

Bishop John Hurst Adams, a former chairman of the ITC board, said he is boycotting because Long has substituted the pursuit of prosperity for the pursuit of justice.

ITC's graduating class submitted a list of candidates for commencement speaker last year, including Long's. Battle made the final call.

"The final decision in terms of authority to extend the invitation does come from the president's office, but it's not the president who determines the list," Battle said.

Adams said board members talked to students about the invitation but decided not to rescind it because "it would embarrass too many people to withdraw an invitation that had already been extended and accepted."

Support for Long

Several members of the ITC community support Long's appearance.

Robert Morris, a graduating senior, is one of them. He said he didn't know much about Long's ministry but he's willing to hear what Long says.

"If you believe that what one stands for is going to change and uproot what an institution stands for, then that's a shaky foundation in the first place," Morris said.

The Rev. Connie Jackson, an ITC graduate, also said Long should be given a chance to speak at commencement. Cone's decision to boycott "is a slap in the face" of all that ITC stands for.
"There have been speakers in the past and there are some professors at ITC that do not espouse everything that ITC stands for, but have we tried to run them out?" said Jackson, an associate minister at Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur.

Cone said he was willing to talk with Long in a public setting about the issues dividing them, but a commencement "is not a context for theological debate."

"If there were an opportunity to dialogue with Bishop Long," Cone said, "I would appear wherever he wanted."

The commencement is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the King International Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

A Solicitation of Support

2006-04-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

To whom it may concern,

The recent controversy in the wake of confirmation that Bishop Eddie L. Long will be the speaker for the Interdenominational Theological Center’s 2006 commencement exercises has awakened in many and furthered a debate about the state of black theological education and the crisis of identity within the Black Church. As the letter from the senior class regarding this issue has been circulated to those outside of the immediate ITC community, it becomes imperative for us to establish more concretely what our primary matters of concern are. The crux of the Senior Class’ concern is best summarized in our letter to President Battle by these concluding statements:

The invitation of one to speak for commencement who has consistently ridiculed, and mocked the values that God and the ancestors of this institution created ITC to stand for, is a sign to the Senior Class that ITC may be moving in a direction that betrays the legacy that preceded us.

The Senior Class framed its assessment of the situation within the context of ITC’s mission and vision statements because through the education that the Class has received at ITC, we take seriously the charge to be “public theologians” who “practice a liberating and transforming spirituality; academic discipline; religious, gender, and cultural diversity; and justice and peace.” The choice of Bishop Long as commencement speaker represents for the class an inconsistency in the proclamation of these values and a tacit acceptance of behavior and belief that betrays the best of what the Black Church is about. Furthermore, we are clear that this situation points to the larger question of the theory and practice of theological education as it effects Historically Black Theological Schools and the Black Church. At this stage, this is not a debate about conservative and liberal theology. Rather, it is a question of theological and ethical integrity and our charge to stand in our heritage of prophetic ministry.

We realize that we are not alone in this concern. We are aware that many have sent correspondence to the president’s office, already expressing your concern, solidarity, and protest against what Bishop Long’s coming may represent.

As commencement approaches and as we continue to defend what the gift of theological education has brought to our ministries and communities, we invite others (students, alumni, faculty, friends, and anyone directly or indirectly connected to the ITC and the Black Church) to openly express their commitment and solidarity with us by 1) sharing what benefits theological education has offered you and 2) why it is important that Historically Black Theological Schools and the Black Church continue to stand in our prophetic tradition. In addition to anything that readers may choose to do, at this stage, we ask that these signs of solidarity be sent to the entire Senior Class and copied to the president’s office at ITC. We want to compile these testimonies as a matter of public record of the concern that ITC must continue to be intentional about preparing seminarians to be a liberating presence in the church and the world. Correspondence may be sent via email to itcsenior06@gmail.com or by mail at the address below. Dr. Battle may be contacted by e-mail at mbattle@itc.edu or fax at 404-527-0901.

We thank you in advance for your signs of solidarity as we continue to stand up and speak out.

In service of the living Christ,

The 2006 Senior Class of the Interdenominational Theological Center

Interdenominational Theological Center

700 Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr SW * Box 76 * Atlanta, GA 30314

Letter to President Battle - Page 1

2006-03-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

Dr. Michael A. Battle
Interdenominational Theological Center
700 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SW
Atlanta, GA 30314

Dr. Battle,

At the first senior class meeting on January 31, 2006, most members of the senior class were informed for the first time that Bishop Eddie L. Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, will be the speaker for the 2006 ITC commencement. This news surprised many of us, for while Bishop Long is an ITC alumnus, pastor of one of the largest congregations in this country, and an internationally recognized preacher, Bishop Long's questionable administrative practices, theological irresponsibility, and consistent denigration of the value of theological education makes his fitness for speaking at ITC's commencement highly questionable.

Based on these concerns, it is our hope that you will meet with the Senior Class as soon as possible to speak to the concerns that we have in regard to Bishop Long's appropriateness to speak for our commencement ceremony and its implications for the direction that ITC is taking as an institution. Although there are some members of the class who are supportive of Bishop Long’s coming, we represent the quorum of Senior Class members who are concerned that based on what Bishop Long has said and done on public record, he may not represent the virtues that ITC should promote as a torch-bearing enterprise of theological education for this nation and world.

One would think that as a graduate of ITC and as a vice-chair of the Board of Trustees for one of our constituent seminaries (Morehouse School of Religion), Bishop Long would be an outspoken advocate for theological education. One would assume that Long would provide a public endorsement of ITC's attempts to create a critical mass of preachers, pastors, scholars, administrators, missionaries, musicians, and educators who are hermeneutically equipped, mission oriented, and theologically sound.

Yet, Bishop Long has repeatedly proven himself to be one who discredits the mission statement of ITC to educate and nurture “women and men who commit to and practice a liberating and transforming spirituality; academic discipline; religious, gender, and cultural diversity; and justice and peace."

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Letter to President Battle - Page 2

2006-03-24T06:39:00.000-08:00

We ask the question, what about Bishop Long's ministry supports any value, any lesson, or any practice that we should have learned while matriculating at ITC?

We are reminded of the story published in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution's Sunday paper on August 28, 2005 where public records show Long created a charity that benefited himself more than the people he claimed to serve. The article states,

The charity, Bishop Eddie Long Ministries Inc., provided him with at least $3.07 million in salary, benefits and the use of property between 1997 and 2000 — nearly as much as it gave to all other recipients combined during those years, tax records show.

It is certainly ethically problematic for a pastor already of considerable wealth to establish a charity that exploits his status as a pastor for his own economic benefit rather than best serve the people he claims to have served.

Furthermore, in the same article, Long is quoted as making statements that seriously call into question his commitment to ITC's vision statement to produce "public theologians - men and women who are intellectually keen, politically sophisticated, economically savvy, culturally sensitive, family friendly, technologically literate, and spiritually astute."

In deflecting criticism about his and his church's practices, Long stated,

We're not just a church, we're an international corporation. We're not just a bumbling bunch of preachers who can't talk and all we're doing is baptizing babies. I deal with the White House. I deal with Tony Blair. I deal with presidents around this world. I pastor a multimillion-dollar congregation.

He further declared, "You've got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that's supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering." Statements like these, seriously call into question Bishop Long's role as a servant leader and his methods as a church administrator. Those of us who have been prepared for pastoral ministry have been cautioned to remain humble as we serve congregations and communities of increasing need. As the ITC motto is "Students Enter, Leaders Depart," Bishop Long, it seems, is not a proper model for pastoral leadership as we enter the world to serve.

In addition, Bishop Long possesses dubious gender politics. In a New Birth church newsletter, Bishop Long wrote an article titled "Setting the Women in Order," where he makes clear his position on the role of women. Bishop Long claims,

By nature, women are more sensitive and refined in thought. Because of their intuitive, emotional thinking, a woman may be more receptive to false teaching than men. Intuitiveness is a valuable gift from God and is needed for balance. That's why satan (sic) attacks women in the spiritual realm.

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Letter to President Battle - Page 3

2006-03-24T06:37:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that ITC is a theologically and ideologically diverse community of varying positions on gender justice, our mission statement declares that ITC students are “to be educated to commit to and practice a liberating and transforming spirituality,” “gender diversity,” and “justice.” As a center of Womanist scholarship in pastoral care, Christian education, and theology, and through the challenges to gendered oppression raised in all of ITC's curriculum from biblical studies to Christian worship, to claim that women are more susceptible to demonic forces betrays what many of us have learned at ITC about gender equality and the maltreatment of women (and Black women in particular) in our churches and communities.

Lastly, Bishop Long has a reputation for discrediting the value of theological education and we need not look further than his comments from the last time he was given the opportunity to speak from an ITC pulpit. In January 2003, at the invitation of then interim President Oliver J. Haney, Bishop Long preached for the President's Chapel Hour. Bishop Long used this platform as an opportunity to berate, ridicule, and discredit our denominational heritages, the value of theological education as a whole, and the faculty of ITC in particular as antiquated irrelevant hindrances from hearing God's voice. The topic of his sermon was "Are You the Anti-Christ?" Although an obvious reference to 1 John 2:22, he preached from 1 Samuel, chapter 3 with emphasis on verses 4-10. In this familiar pericope, Samuel, under the care of the prophet Eli and asleep in the temple, hears a voice call for him, but mistakes God's voice for Eli's. In Long's exegesis of this text, Eli represents the obsolete traditions of the church that prevent believers from hearing the voice of God and following the new movement that God is initiating through Jesus Christ.

Bishop Long was clear that in order for us to follow this "fresh move," we must sever ourselves from tradition and the denominational heritages that we draw from for theological insight. To not do so, is to be the "anti-Christ" because to "deny" this new movement (of which Bishop Long considers himself a leader) then you are denying Jesus Christ himself. To make such a suggestion at a seminary that prides itself on an ecumenical spirit that celebrates the virtue of denominational heritage and tradition is the ultimate disrespect to the founders of our constituent seminaries and the ecumenical vision that birthed ITC.

He then moved to the New Testament and claimed that God allowed for John the Baptist's head to be severed because in order for the people to follow Jesus, they had to be "severed" from his influence. Similarly, Samuel should have "severed" himself from Eli, because Samuel's dependence on his caretaker made him unable to detect God's voice when he heard it. This highly irresponsible exegesis and appalling theology is compounded by his use of this interpretation to dishonor the very faculty who has challenged us to listen for God's voice in new ways. Bishop Long ridiculed the faculty so harshly that several faculty members bitterly walked out.

What Long failed to understand in his exegesis is that if it weren't for Eli, then Samuel would not have known what to do when he heard the call from God. In verse nine of this passage, after a period of confusion, Eli realizes what has happened to Samuel and offers him direction for receiving the revelation that God intends for Samuel to hear, "Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'"

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Letter to President Battle - Page 4

2006-03-24T06:36:00.000-08:00

Samuel follows Eli's direction and God brings revelation to Samuel's ears. For Bishop Long to disrespect the faculty of the ITC, a highly respected, highly qualified, highly committed group of individuals who have made great personal and professional sacrifices to teach us and thousands of other graduates of ITC, bespeaks Long's lack of respect for ITC's heritage as a whole, for it is the faculty who is on the front line for preparing us for ministry, however we are called to serve.

Yet, the revelation that God gives to Samuel has great bearing on the prevailing concern we have about Bishop Long's preaching for ITC's commencement. God tells Samuel,

See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them (1 Samuel 3:11-14, NRSV).

In revisiting God's revelation to Samuel, we wonder why we would ask an alumnus of ITC who has consistently misrepresented the values of this institution to return without accountability.
Dr. Battle, we understand that you received a list that was supposed to reflect who the Senior Class wanted to speak for commencement. While there is some confusion as to how the list was compiled, what is certain is that the invitation for the commencement speaker comes from your office. Therefore, amidst Bishop Long's deplorable behavior on public record, it is of concern to us that you would deem Bishop Long fit to send us forth on our day of commencement to teach and preach a "liberating spirituality."

At Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Church symposium in February 2003, less than a month after Bishop Long's visit to ITC, Smiley asked Dr. James Cone, the father of Black liberation theology, if the Black Church had become too political and strayed away from its primary mission. Dr. Cone cautioned that the Black Church has not been good at thinking about what its nature and mission is. Cone made the case that the question the Black Church must ask itself is whether it is called to save its own life or whether it is called to lose its life for the sake of others. Dr. Cone continued,

The Black Church is concerned with saving its own life because it is interested in the gospel of success. The cross is it at the center of the gospel, because the cross is not a gospel of success … I feel today, with so much focus on building buildings and all the other humungous things that we do, that we fail to see that the cross is at the heart of what the Black Church ought to be about.

He concluded by stating, "I am concerned that the church doesn't get too concerned about its own survival because Jesus said, people who seek to save their life shall lose it. But if you lose your life for the sake of the least of these, then you'll find your life."

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Letter to President Battle - Page 5

2006-03-24T06:35:00.000-08:00

Many of us entered ITC during a turbulent and uncertain time, unsure as to who the president would be, what faculty members would remain, and whether our degrees would be accredited. Yet, we remained vigilant, hopeful, and committed to ITC because of the unique contribution to theological education that this seminary provides. We applaud you, Dr. Battle, for steering ITC to a place of stability through a wilderness of doubt. At this stage, however, it seems that we of the ITC community are at a point of thinking about, reflecting on, and re-evaluating our nature and mission as an institution.

The invitation of one to speak for commencement who has consistently ridiculed, and mocked the values that God and the ancestors of this institution created ITC to stand for, is a sign to the Senior Class that ITC may be moving in a direction that betrays the legacy that preceded us.

We request an opportunity for us to meet with you in regard to the concerns that we have outlined in this letter on Tuesday, March 28th at 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm. Of course, we request two meetings in order to accommodate both day and night students. We thank you for hearing our concerns and look forward to being in further communication with you.

In service of the living Christ,

The 2006 Senior Class of the Interdenominational Theological Center

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Letter to President Battle - Signatures

2006-03-24T06:33:00.002-08:00

Carl E. Patten, II, C.H. Mason Theological Seminary
Senior Class President
Victor L. Cyrus-Franklin, Gammon Theological Seminary
Senior Class Concerns Comm. Chair
Anthony Allen, C.H. Mason Theological Seminary
Shenard R. Barnes, Turner Theological Seminary
Joanne K. Bedford, Turner Theological Seminary
Frank Brown, Morehouse School of Religion
Reosha Bush, Morehouse School of Religion
Joseph H. Cannon, Morehouse School of Religion
Neema Cyrus-Franklin, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary
Tynisha C. Drennon, Turner Theological Center
James L. Fields, Morehouse School of Religion
Julie Grace, Morehouse School of Religion
Eddie Harris, Jr., Turner Theological Seminary
India Harris, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary
Sonja Y. Horton, Morehouse School of Religion
Omar King, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary
Terri Laws, Morehouse School of Religion
Kecia Lewis, Turner Theological Seminary
Orlando M. McCauley, Turner Theological Seminary
Wendell C. Miller, Morehouse School of Religion
Chianti Mitchell, Morehouse School of Religion
Ernest C. Morris, Jr.C.H. Mason Theological Seminary
Michelle Morton, Gammon Theological Seminary
Patricia K. Pettway, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary
Marcus D. Powell, Morehouse School of Religion
Kimberly D. Russaw, Gammon Theological Seminary
Vandy C. Simmons, Turner Theological Seminary
Michael D. Stinson, Gammon Theological Seminary
Seena H. Washington, Turner Theological Seminary
Cory M. Watts, Turner Theological Seminary
Ruby Whatley, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary
Hodari Williams, Morehouse School of Religion
Dianne P. Wooden, Gammon Theological Seminary

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Letter to President Battle - Enclosures

2006-03-24T06:29:00.000-08:00

"Bishop's charity generous to Bishop"
John Blake
Atlanta Journal Constitution
August 28, 2005

"Setting the Women in Order"
Bishop Eddie L. Long
New Birth Voice

"Are You the Anti-Christ?": Part 1 & Part 2
Bishop Eddie L. Long
ITC Chapel
January 16, 2003

"Success"
Dr. James Cone
Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Church Symposium
February 8, 2003