Bishop Long Sex Scandal And The Black Church

I'm just getting back into the office today but last week followed the emerging scandal surrounding mega church pastor Bishop Eddie Long in Atlanta. I will be dealing with it in a column later because of what it says about issues many black churches -- and not just black churches -- deal with. One of the primary reasons black women are leading the nation in contracting new cases of HIV, for example, is because of so-called "down low" activity by black men, the kind of which the married Bishop Long has been accused. Not only that, the church, like many non-black ones, have done a horrible job of dealing with the issue of homosexuality. Whether or not you believe it is sinful is almost beside the point. There are heterosexuals and homosexuals in just about every church, and we are called, I thought, to treat others as we would like to be treated. What happens too much on this issue is that it is has been elevated to the "Super Sin" and has convinced many gay men that it is better to pretend to be straight -- marry, have kids, call homosexuality sinful, etc. -- even though such deceit is dangerous and is killing us at a too-rapid pace.