If you haven’t heard, Crystal Cathedral is bankrupt.

That’s the big glass church in California where good old Robert Schuller still teeters and totters around while some junior Schuller runs things.  They also put on The Hour of Power television show.  And now they’re broke.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a church filing for bankruptcy.  I’m sure it’s happened, but not to a church this big.  In a time when my neighborhood is littered with empty Blockbusters and Circuit City stores (the last one was built just six months before the company went down in flames) and other refuse and rubbish, and lots of churches are struggling with flagging tithes and shrinking budgets, this is ripe for commentary. 

Why the Crystal Cathedral is Bankrupt and Yours May Be Next

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It’s been a rough week for Bishop Eddie Long.

As an outspoken advocate against homosexuality in Atlanta, Long is now accused of coercing three young men into a sexual relationship with him.  Naturally, the media is all over this.

I’m not too familiar with Long, and many of you might not be either, because he’s just in a different circle from me.  I’m not going to spend my time even accusing or condemning Long, and you’ll see why in a minute.  But it seems like every few months, the church is just due for a scandal, preferably involving a sordid sexual affair. 

I don’t mean to detract in any way from the plight of the victims in these cases.  But ironically, it isn’t just the victims who are victimized, but as an honest man, I’m victimized and so are you, and I’m going to tell you why.

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Have you heard the audio tapes?

It’s likely that I don’t even have to mention the name of the particular movie star who I’m talking about.  Every media outlet has been all over those tapes like a tabloid on a photo of Britney or Lindsey’s lady bits.  And of course, our voyeuristic tendencies take over, and we eat up every second of scandal.

So now Christians are taking up the task of asking themselves the question, “What to do with Mel Gibson now that he is bonified insane?”  Just a few years ago, he was the champion of our cause with the horrifyingly accurate violence of The Passion of the Christ.  But now that it’s clear he has a real life violent temper, it’s kind of hard to embrace him as a brother in Christ.

However, as we all know, Mel is hardly the first to stain the name of Jesus by being a sinner.  From priests to televangelists to Henry VIII, Christians just can’t seem to clean up their act for long.  Yet, every time it happens, we always act surprised.  There’s so many scandals that have long since been forgotten.  Maybe before we decide how to react, we can put Mel’s situation in perspective with a little history of bad behavior among famous Christians.  

Ten Other Badly Behaving Christians

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