Gateway Church: Texas megachurch faces exodus of worshippers after a sex abuse scandal set off a summer of turmoil
Gateway Church: Texas megachurch faces exodus of worshippers after a sex abuse scandal set off a summer of turmoil
Summer was off to a tumultuous start when allegations of child sexual abuse surfaced on a blog dedicated to Christian survivor stories. This time, the man involved had gone on to lead one of America’s largest megachurches.
Robert Morris, who founded and led Gateway Church for nearly 25 years in the affluent Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, Texas, resigned after the scandal came to light in June. His exit sent thousands of evangelicals into a season of struggle that has lasted months
The church has seen a decrease of 17% to 19% in weekend services attendance, a church spokesperson told CNN.
The turnover at the church could have far-reaching effects. Gateway Church draws an estimated 100,000 people to its weekend services and has more than 560 employees at nine locations in Texas, and two others in Missouri and Wyoming, according to the church.
Oh wow, a 17-19% decrease in attendance? Does that mean over 80% of attendees, or approximately 80,000 people, are at least somewhat okay with child rape? After all, it was the same guy who founded the church, so all the religious beliefs of the whole congregation are based off of this child rapist guy.
For me, this is like when Hannibal Buress called Bill Cosby a rapist and then for months, it got bigger and bigger until we see it all explode.
Mr. Morris, I hope you get Bill Cosby'd.
You want someone to drug and rape him? That's awful. I'll allow it
One less megachurch is a good thing.
It is considered one of America’s largest megachurches, which are congregations with an average weekly worship attendance of 2,000 people or more. There are nearly 1,800 megachurches in the United States, according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.
1800 x 2000 = 3,600,000, roughly 1% of the U.S. population.