(ThyBlackMan.com) The Bishop Eddie Long has had a rough and interesting year. It’s not easy to keep running a school through your church after being accused of sexually coercing young men in your care. Well, the end of days has arrived for the New Birth Christian Academy, the school connected with Bishop Eddie Long’s church. The school just sent letters out to parents informing them that the school would be shut down on January 4th of 2012.
The school enrolls students from kindergarten to 12th grade. As expected, it has also had a significant number of financial troubles through the years. There also comes a time when you can no longer operate with a deficit, and it’s hard to convince parents to enroll their children into a school that is run by a church headed by man who was once accused of having sex with young boys. I admittedly can’t imagine Long, or anyone affiliated with him, teaching my child or anyone else’s. 
Art Franklin, a spokesman for the church, made it clear that the school’s closure has nothing to do with the sexual allegations against Bishop Eddie Long. That’s like saying that Tiger Woods’ personal life has nothing to do with the actions of his corporate sponsors. All of us watching from the outside in know exactly why people are running in the other direction, and we also marvel at the tremendous faith of those who’ve stood by Bishop Eddie Long in spite of the fact that he has provided little to no exonerating evidence to conflict the disturbing allegations against him.
A parent from the school doesn’t believe Franklin’s remarks. ”I don’t believe that,” she said anonymously in a local TV interview. “I believe that this last straw with the divorce, the sealed settlement, it just does not look good. I really believe that people continued to take their children out as each allegation unfolded month after month.”
Tuition for the school ranged from $5,725 for New Birth members to $6,000 for non-members.
Bishop Eddie Long appears to be feeling the consequences of his personal choices. Being a man of faith, one might say that Bishop Eddie Long should understand consequences more than anyone. While the original allegations were problematic, Bishop Eddie Long’s decision to mislead his congregation into believing that the truth would be revealed only made matters worse.
I’ve always stated that New Birth members deserve to know the truth about what happened, especially since church resources are being used to clean up this mess. When you ask your pastor for the truth and he responded with silence, then God has revealed nearly everything you need to know.
