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Evangelist Ted Haggard ranted against all sorts of sex at his 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado and became president of the National Association of Evangelicals, visiting President George W. Bush in the White House. Then he was caught in gay sex and driven out.
Evangelist Bill Gothard of the Gothard Institute of Basic Life Principles drew up to 10,000 at weeklong "religious right" seminars but he was dethroned when 34 women accused him of crude sexual affronts.
Evangelist Tony Alamo toured in giant revivals until he was sentenced to 175 years in prison for child rape and other sex crimes.
Evangelist Bob Coy led a huge Fort Lauderdale church with 25,000 members visited by President George W. Bush but he resigned in disgrace after admitting numerous sex messes.
Evangelist Jim Bakker ruled the enormous PTL Club in the Carolinas until he was accused of rape and sentenced to 45 years in prison for accounting fraud.
Evangelist Dave Reynolds of the large Cornerstone Bible Fellowship in Arkansas was wiped out by 70 counts of child pornography.
Evangelist Jon Petersen of World Ambassadors pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly all of his church's money "to pay for a sex addiction."
Evangelist Mario Leyva toured in southern revivals then was sent to prison for sodomizing multitudes of underage boys.
On and on it goes. Literally hundreds of megachurch scandals fill the news. Jay Michaelson of The Daily Beast once counted many culprits, including: Josh Duggar, Bishop Eddie Long, George Rekers, John Paulk, Jimmy Swaggart, Marvin Gorman, Jack Schaap, David Loveless, Grant Storms, Isaac Hunter, Larry Durant, Sam Hinn, Paul Barnes, Lonnie Latham, Earl Paulk, Paul Barnes, Joe Barron, Michael Hintz and Todd Bentley.
Last year, the Southern Baptist Convention identified 400 ministers and church leaders convicted of sex crimes in the past decade. A "Black-Collar Crimes" registry maintained by the Freedom From Religion Foundation contains thousands of entries.
Not all these scandals involve megachurches. However, the big spectacle houses of worship - supposedly representing a triumph of religion especially constitute a cesspool.
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