Donnie Earl grew up believing that the elder Paulk was his uncle, but a court-ordered DNA test revealed that belief to be false. Paulk is actually Donnie Earl’s father. Donnie Earl’s mother is married to Earl Paulk’s brother. (Flannery O’Connor couldn’t make this stuff up.)
A longtime Atlanta megachurch leader with ties to the extreme Christian Reconstructionist agenda is under a criminal investigation for possible perjury.
Earl Paulk Jr. was pastor of Chapel Hill Harvester Church (now called the Cathedral at Chapel Hill), at one time one of Atlanta’s largest congregations. But in recent years, he has become mired in litigation that is garnering media glare and exposing a web of misdeeds and heartache.
Paulk’s charismatic church, which included a television ministry aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, once had a congregation of more than 10,000. But critics of the Religious Right were especially interested in Paulk’s ties to Christian Reconstructionism. That ultra-Calvinist theology argues for dismantling America’s secular democracy and creating a nation governed by an ultra-fundamentalist version of “biblical law.”
Paulk gave a forum to Christian Reconstructionist theorists such as Gary North, who argue for imposing the criminal code of the Old Testament. They want to apply the death penalty for homosexuals, adulterers, fornicators, witches, incorrigible juvenile delinquents and those who spread false religions. North thinks stoning is the biblically preferred means of execution.
Paulk’s standing as a celebrated spokesperson for the theocratic movement, however, has been shaken because of accusations of sexual misconduct and other unsavory behavior. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported recently on a deposition from Paulk’s granddaughter in which she accused the now-80-year-old preacher of sexually inappropriate behavior toward her and her friend when they were both pre-teens. Paulk has denied those allegations.
The deposition is a part of lawsuit lodged against Paulk by former church staff members. Mona Brewer, the Atlanta newspaper reports, claims that Paulk used his church position to coerce her into a sexual relationship. Charisma magazine notes that Brewer argues that the relationship lasted for 14 years and that Paulk had convinced Brewer that her salvation depended on her having sex with him and “other members of the church community [and] leaders of other churches as well as his family members, sometimes with other individuals observing the sexual acts.”
Paulk, the periodical reports, has denied Brewer’s accusations, but admitted to a consensual affair with her. Charisma adds that at “least three other women have come forward with claims similar to Brewer’s.”
Paulk, who was once dubbed the “most visible and well-known leader” within the “Dominion theology” movement by writers Thomas D. Ice and H. Wayne House, no longer leads a powerful megachurch. Today he sometimes speaks at the church, but the diminished congregation is led by his son, the Rev. Donnie Earl Paulk.
Donnie Earl grew up believing that the elder Paulk was his uncle, but a court-ordered DNA test revealed that belief to be false. Paulk is actually Donnie Earl’s father. Donnie Earl’s mother is married to Earl Paulk’s brother. (Flannery O’Connor couldn’t make this stuff up.)
During court proceedings, Earl Paulk denied under oath that he had a sexual relationship with his sister-in-law, and that apparent prevarication has now led the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into possible criminal charges.
That truth, however, has not publicly shaken Donnie Earl’s confidence in the senior Paulk. He told Charisma that he loves Paulk “unconditionally” and that he remains “my uncle [sic] and one of my spiritual guides in my life.”
The vast majority of Paulk’s followers, however, are not as loyal. According to the Journal-Constitution, Paulk’s congregation has dipped to fewer than 2,000.
I’m not sure what the moral of this story is, if it has one. But at a minimum Earl Paulk may want to repudiate his dalliance with Christian Reconstructionism. The movement does call for the death penalty for adulterers, and stones in Georgia are not hard to find.
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