Atlanta Church Sex Scandal – In a sex scandal of biblical proportions, the founder of an Atlanta mega-church admitted to sleeping with his brother’s wife and fathering the church’s present pastor.
In the latest sex scandal to hit Atlanta’s Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church, 80-year old Archbishop Earl Paulk revealed the results of a court-ordered paternity test naming him as the father of his nephew, 34-year old Senior Pastor D.E. Paulk.
A judge ordered the test at the request of the Cobb County district attorney’s office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which are investigating Earl Paulk for possible perjury charges stemming from a seposition given in a lawsuit.
The archbishop, his brother Don Paulk, and the church are being sued by former church employee Mona Brewer, who says Earl Paulk manipulated her into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. Earl Paulk admitted to the affair in front of the church last January.
In a 2006 deposition stemming from the lawsuit, the archbishop said under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was Brewer. But the paternity test said otherwise.
“I am so very sorry for the collateral damage it’s caused our family and the families hurt by the removing of the veil that hid our humanity and our sinfulness,” said D.E. Paulk, who received the mantle of head pastor a year and a half ago.
D.E. Paulk said he did not learn the secret of his parentage until the paternity test. “I was disappointed, and I was surprised,” he said.
The shocking results of the paternity test are speeding up a transformation already under way in the church after more than a decade of sex scandals and lawsuits involving the Paulks, D.E. Paulk said.
In 1992, a church member claimed she was pressured into a sexual relationship with Don Paulk. Other women also claimed they had been coerced into sex with Earl Paulk and other members of the church’s administration.
And that’s the latest news on the Atlanta church sex scandal.
Tags: atlanta church sex scandal, church scandal, scandal, sex scandal
November 21st, 2007 at 10:58 am
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November 24th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Bishop Earl Paulk founded the Chapel Hill Harvester Church outside Atlanta in 1972. In the decades since, at least nine members of his flock have confessed to extramarital affairs with the religious leader or his sibling, Reverend Don Paulk. Several Sundays ago, the brothers stood at the pulpit and added a new name to the list.
The 80-year-old bishop admitted to fathering a child with his brother’s wife. That offspring, D.E. Paulk, is now head pastor of the church. The disclosure so bowled over the Associated Press that the news agency called it “a sex scandal of biblical dimensions.”
The buzz is certainly of Old Testament proportions. Over the past week, we’ve been flooded with queries for “earl paulk,” “archbishop earl paulk,” and “bishop paulk.” Interest surged for the bishop’s brother and the newly revealed son. Demand flashed upwards for the church itself.
But the search that reaps the most attention is perhaps the most damning of all: “bishop earl paulk scandal.” The query soared on Monday and doubled its numbers yesterday. In the age of the Internet, Bishop Paulk and his brother may find it all the harder to go about their usual ways.