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With Eliot Spitzer dominating today’s news, we decided to look back at other so-called virtuous figures who became embroiled in sex scandals.
1. Aimee Semple McPherson (1890–1944)
By the mid-1920s, evangelist McPherson was packing them in at her Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, preaching hope and warning against the sinful life. But in 1926, she disappeared while swimming at a local beach. She turned up a month later with a fantastic story about being kidnapped and taken to Mexico. Unfortunately, the evidence said otherwise: It appeared Aimee had been shacked up with a married man. The evangelist was charged with perjury, but she stuck to her story and was eventually acquitted. Her popularity waned after the scandal, but you gotta hand it to her for chutzpah: instead of apologizing to her confused flock, McPherson bobbed her hair, bought some short skirts, and began dancing and drinking in public.
2. Jim Bakker (1941– )
Simple people with a simple dream, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker started out hosting a children’s religious puppet show. By the mid-1970s, however, the fabulous Bakker duo had become the toast of televangelism. They pulled in millions of dollars in contributions to their PTL (Praise the Lord) ministry, and even built a sort of fundamentalist Disneyland called Heritage USA in South Carolina. But Jim had a couple of dirty little secrets. He had paid a former church secretary named Jessica Hahn to keep quiet about a sexual encounter they had in 1980. But when the scandal broke in 1987, questions began to be raised about Bakker’s financial dealings. In 1989, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for fleecing his flock of $158 million. In the end he only served five, and moved forward with his life, eventually opening a new ministry in a restaurant in Branson, Missouri.
3. Jimmy Swaggart (1935– )
Swaggart was one of Jim Bakker’s fiercest critics when the Bakker scandal broke, telling an interviewer he himself had never even kissed a woman other than his wife. Maybe not. But the bombastic and fantastically successful television preacher—and cousin to rock-and-roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis—was doing something with that prostitute in a cheap New Orleans hotel room in early 1988. Swaggart’s tearful, televised confession kept his $12-million-a-year, 10,000-employee religious empire together—until he got caught with his pants down again. That’s right, Jimmy Swaggart was linked to (brace yourself!) another hooker in 1991. A couple of lost lawsuits, an IRS tax lien, and that was the end of the line for Jimmy Swaggart. Well, not exactly. He’s still hurling rhetorical fire and brimstone on TV, radio and online, albeit on a much smaller scale.
4. Amrit Desai (1932– )
A onetime art student, Amrit Desai came to the United States from India in 1960. He began giving yoga lessons on the side and ended up training several thousand people, who in turn became yoga instructors around the country. With his followers calling him “guru dev,” or “beloved teacher,” one of the things Desai taught at the yoga center he founded in Massachusetts in 1972 was that celibacy was spiritually mandatory for unmarried people. Desai even took a vow of celibacy himself in 1974, despite being married with children. No wonder it was something of a shock (perhaps greatest to his wife) when in 1994, the beloved teacher admitted to having affairs with three of his followers. The scandal forced Desai to resign his $150,000-a-year post. He eventually moved to Florida, but kept up the yoga.
5. Paul R. Shanley (1931– )
In the 1970s, Shanley was known as “the hippie priest”; he was a Roman Catholic clergyman whose specialty was ministering to kids struggling with their sexual identity. By 2002, however, Shanley was a central figure in the greatest scandal ever to hit the Catholic Church in the United States. Shanley was accused of molesting more than two dozen boys over a 35-year span. Subsequent investigations into other allegations in the Boston archdiocese resulted in the Church paying $85 million in 2003 to 552 people who claimed to have been abused by priests. It also triggered similar probes, and similar results, in other areas of the country. In 2005, at the age of 74, Shanley was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.
This article was excerpted from ‘Forbidden Knowledge: A wickedly smart guide to history’s naughtiest bits.’
Comments (29)
Comment
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The names change, but the behavior doesn’t.
posted by Jim on 3-11-2008 at 11:54 am
It’s not so much the behavior that bothers me, but the HYPOCRISY behind it. If you can’t practice what you preach, then shaddap.
posted by Pete on 3-11-2008 at 11:56 am
I’m with you, Pete, the hypocrisy is worse than the actual behavior…but I’m still pretty strongly against using women as rental sex toys…But that’s more of a problem I have with politicians than with other figures. I don’t want anyone representing me who can’t be bothered to think of women as actual people and not just something to rent.
posted by Fruppi on 3-11-2008 at 12:13 pm
wow. that is why i dont have faith in ANYTHING!
posted by meta on 3-11-2008 at 12:27 pm
Kind of sad that this is what comes to mind when people think of Christians (or the yoga dude who was thrown in the mix so the entire article wouldn’t be about Christians).
posted by Ira on 3-11-2008 at 12:50 pm
You left off Ted Haggard!
posted by Shawn on 3-11-2008 at 12:54 pm
Another recent example would be Ted Haggert of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Big stink in the evangelical Christian world in the past year or so with Haggert allegedly having an affair with a gay prostitute in Denver and using drugs he bought from the prostitute too.
posted by SM on 3-11-2008 at 1:06 pm
There are hypocrites everywhere…not just in churches…sadly, the difference between religion and faith has been lost…Religion is on TV, faith is internal and definitely worth talking about…
posted by Brucesquatch on 3-11-2008 at 1:09 pm
My dad often thought PTL was the funniest show on TV. He’d watch Tammy Faye weep mascara and laugh.
posted by beth on 3-11-2008 at 1:29 pm
On the subject of hypocracy, I have to take this opportunity to bring up the five funniest words I’ve ever heard strung together:
“I have a wide stance.”
posted by EV on 3-11-2008 at 2:04 pm
It’s obvious that those who talk the loudest have the most to hide.
posted by Mary on 3-11-2008 at 2:18 pm
Or those who talk the loudest have the most to lose.
The reason we remember these is because we expected better of them, and then they turned out to have some major flaws. But it’s not such a disconnect when perpetrated by someone we already think is a lowlife: tragic, yes; newsworthy, not so much.
posted by Caleb on 3-11-2008 at 2:42 pm
Fruppi, what’s wrong with using women as rental sex toys? Ever heard of dinner and a movie!? It’s cheaper than a prostitute and they usually keep their mouths shut. Maybe I should run for office…
posted by Tommy on 3-11-2008 at 3:04 pm
I just want to state, as a christian, and one who messes up ALOT, christians aren’t perfect. The goal is to TRY to do right. When we quit trying to do right is when it all falls apart. We are all going to fail, thats a given. But, we have to keep trying.
Just because those people were in the public eye didn’t mean they didn’t still struggle. I would much rather listen to someone who admits they have problems, than someone who tries to hide it.
posted by Kim on 3-11-2008 at 4:35 pm
I also like how both Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh’s personal flaws around the ladies didn’t seem to stop them moralising on the Clinton/Lewinsky relationship.
It’s hard to understand how people can be so openly judgemental while at the very same time doing the exact same thing.
posted by Kris on 3-11-2008 at 5:07 pm
Kim,
There is a major problem with what you’re saying, at least in terms of the people mentioned. It’s not that they failed .. it’s that they pointed the finger at so many others and shouted “sinner repent”.
Also, I do silly things all the time. However, I don’t claim to follow some hocus pocus that says that I should feel bad for the silly things that I do.
posted by Alice on 3-11-2008 at 5:33 pm
ok, i’m from Charlotte. Jim and Tammy Fay lived in my neighborhood before they hit the big time. no lie, their old house has been hit by lightning at least a dozen times until the new owner, after having the showerhead blown off the wall during a thunderstorm, ran out on the front yead and screamed up at the sky “THEY DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE!!”
so, i livied through the Jim and Tammy Fay debaucle, combine that with church-hopping in my youth because my mom had to go the most socially acceptable church, and now i have a very dark view on organized religion. i am a deeply spiritual person, but not a religious one. which sets up the next story.
i can now laugh hysterically at a VERY religious ex-boyfriend who dumped me because my “religion was too internal.” he just didn’t think that he could spend his life with a sinner like me. oh, he failed to add that he was screwing a “friend” of his behind my back.
posted by ??? on 3-11-2008 at 7:17 pm
There’s a guy named Sai Baba in Southern India, and the guy pretends to be a walking avatar or reincarnation of God. The guy has peddled so much money, that he commands about the same power and respect as the Indian Prime Minister and President (they actually bow at his feet).
The entire thing is very cult-like, and the guy has amassed a fortune unparalleled to anything you could ever imagine. MOST NOTABLY his enoutrage has been found to be embezzling money, as well as strong allegations that he molests children – with countless people both foreigners from Europe, North America, and Asia testifying of his abuse of both naive foreign tourists and local children.
His notoriety has become so large that BBC even did a full documentary on him, and he’s been banned from Germany and the Hague. It’s worse then Scientology.
posted by Psychotic Ape on 3-12-2008 at 2:42 am
For an excellent satirical look at this, check out Sinclair Lewis’ “Elmer Gantry”. Proof that, sadly, this pattern of behavior is present in every generation.
I can’t look at a Joel Osteen book and not think of Elmer.
posted by kate on 3-12-2008 at 9:42 am
this list stinks
posted by jkl;asdf on 3-12-2008 at 11:27 am
Haggard!!!!
posted by Carl on 3-12-2008 at 11:31 am
You haven’t even BEGUN to scratch the surface of the list!
Check this out, and it only concerns Christian evangelicals – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_evangelist_scandals
posted by Roobix on 3-12-2008 at 11:55 am
One thing that Jesus says about the teachers of law, “Do what they teach but don’t follow their actions.” Again, from those who know many, many will be asked. For those who knows less, less will be asked. So many times we see “hypocrytes” and we mocked them. But think, how many times we say we hate one thing, but that’s the thing we become? The devils always use our words against us. Those hypocrytes tested, and failed…. But it doesn’t mean God failed. God is looking for sinners. Healthy one does not need a doctor, sick person does.
posted by Eric on 3-12-2008 at 12:36 pm
This list is I am sure only a partial. Isn’t something going on now with the Mayor of Detroit as well? When will these people in the public eye learn that they have no private lives? If some dumb idiot in the trailer next to us who is collecting unemployment cheats on his wife, who really gives a crap? And that’s just the way it will always be.
posted by Rette on 3-12-2008 at 12:40 pm
What about Larry Craig?
Why hasnt anyone forced him to resign?
Or how about those million civilians and 3500 service men whove died in the last few years?
posted by mf on 3-12-2008 at 4:50 pm
I guess Spitzer should be added to the list?
posted by WBR on 3-12-2008 at 10:17 pm
Bill Clinton!!!!!!!!
posted by Yazzer on 3-12-2008 at 10:23 pm
The first time I saw Tammy Faye Bakker I was flipping through the tv channels. She was right in the middle of the mascara tears routine. I thought, “Is this a joke, a comedy show on christian television??” What annoys me (for lack of better word) is that she wasn’t convicted the same as Jim, when she was just as guilty of the false religious chicanery.
Michael Keaton played a fake evangelist on an episode of Frazer. When I saw Joel Osteen (on tv) I knew exactly who Keaton had based the character on.(haha)
posted by Tdave on 3-13-2008 at 3:36 am
I am a Christian.
It is only proven time and again that any living person is not exempted from committing a sin – not even the religious persons. In fact, they are the principal target of the devil since their fall could make a great impact on us the believers of God, to loss our faith in religion, and maybe our faith in God.
God speaks in everyone of us, through our conscience. We all know what is rightfull and what is not – and what it takes to be a Christian.
For sure, before everyone had rendered a judgement to our sins, we have been the first ones to do so while we are committing sins.
But of course, no one can tell what
really is God’s judgement about ours sins…All we can hope for is that they will be forgiven once we will repent and not to repeat them again – which is in fact, a lifetime struggle for everyone. We will only know about it once we come face to face with our creator during the FINAL JUDGEMENT.
By looking back at the fall of others, we have to learn the lessons and read God’s message to us – don’t forget, He was warning us against FALSE PROPHETS too.
We can always serve God without giving our money to these false prophets! We have to be vigilant everytime we join any religious group, especially when it involves money already.
Despite all of these, let’s continue to have faith in God, Hope that He will always guide us, Love our neighbors as what Jesus said, but also, USE OUR BRAIN, especially when it comes to joining any RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION because not only our money is at stake but our SOUL and SALVATION as well.
posted by nimtz on 3-13-2008 at 8:51 am