April Marciszewski, The Tulsa World, October 7, 2007
Tulsans have seen upheaval before but are concerned how it affects students.
Oral Roberts University captured attention for money woes and messages from God long before a lawsuit filed last week alleged illegal political involvement and misspending for the benefit of the university president’s family.
But Tulsans said they are waiting for evidence to back up the recent accusations before guessing at the fate of the city’s charismatic Christian icon.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Tulsa County District Court, claims ORU President Richard Roberts required a government professor to make his students help with a local mayoral campaign, in violation of laws for tax-exempt organizations. The suit also includes the summary of a report, allegedly written by Roberts’ sister-in-law Stephanie Cantese, that claims the Roberts family used university and Oral Roberts Ministries money for personal purposes. Plaintiffs said they hope the report isn’t true.
Three former professors –John Swails, Tim Brooker and Paulita Brooker –amended their lawsuit Thursday to add a claim of “libel/slander/defamation” after Roberts told ORU students in a chapel service Wednesday that he was “not intimidated by blackmail and extortion.”
A recent ORU graduate, Michael Branscun, said he’s almost come to expect scandals from the charismatic Christian world.
The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned last year as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was dismissed as the leader of the 14,000-member New Life Church that he founded. He admitted to “sexual immorality” — paying a man for a massage and methamphetamine. The televangelist Benny Hinn testified in court earlier last year that he returned profits from investments discovered to be made in a Ponzi scheme.
If you want to see the funniest part of this article follow the URL and read the comments.
As Bartcop can tell you Tulsa has some interesting people walking around loose.
–Volt–
Comment by Volt — October 8, 2007 @ 11:38 am
If the Rev.Bob Dobbs ever returns to Earth,
I’ll personally sit down with Him and pray
for the Roberts Ministries and everything will be alright.
Comment by Rainlander — October 8, 2007 @ 12:14 pm