Posted on 10/16/2012 3:41:28 PM PDT by tellw
King's crisis
RELIGION | After a meteoric rise in the evangelical world, The King’s College president Dinesh D’Souza now faces his board’s likely questions about his relationship to a woman not his wife
About 2,000 people gathered on Sept. 28 at First Baptist North in Spartanburg, S.C., to hear high-profile Christians speak on defending the faith and applying a Christian worldview to their lives. Among the speakers: Eric Metaxas, Josh McDowell, and—keynote speaker for the evening—best-selling author, filmmaker, and Christian college president Dinesh D’Souza.
D’Souza’s speech earned him a standing ovation and a long line at the book-signing table immediately afterward. Although D’Souza has been married for 20 years to his wife, Dixie, in South Carolina he was with a young woman, Denise Odie Joseph II, and introduced her to at least three people as his fiancée.
Finally, near 11 p.m., event organizer Tony Beam escorted D’Souza and Joseph to the nearby Comfort Suites. Beam noted that they checked in together and were apparently sharing a room for the night in the sold-out hotel. The next morning, around 6 a.m., Beam arrived back at the hotel and called up to D’Souza’s room. “We’ll be down in 10 minutes,” D’Souza told Beam. D’Souza and Joseph came down together, and Beam took them to the airport.
The next day another conference organizer, Alex McFarland, distressed by D’Souza’s behavior, confronted him in a telephone conversation. D’Souza admitted he shared a room with his fiancée but said “nothing happened.” When I called D’Souza, he confirmed that he was indeed engaged to Joseph, but did not explain how he could be engaged to one woman while still married to another. When asked when he had filed for divorce from his wife, Dixie, D’Souza answered, “Recently.”
According to San Diego County (Calif.) Superior Court records, D’Souza filed for divorce only on Oct. 4, the day I spoke with him. Under California law, that starts the clock on a six-month waiting period for divorce. D’Souza on Oct. 4 told me his marriage was “over,” said he “is sure Denise is the one for me,” and said he had “done nothing wrong.”
The episode is a strange twist in D’Souza’s otherwise meteoric rise in the evangelical world. He developed a reputation among evangelicals with a string of best-sellers, including The Roots of Obama’s Rage, which spawned a movie, Obama: 2016, which has now grossed more than $30 million. He broke into the Christian conference and megachurch market in 2007 with the release of a book that year, What’s So Great About Christianity.
D’Souza now receives speaking fees sometimes in excess of $10,000 from Christian groups, putting him in the top tier of Christian speakers. In 2010 he became president of The King’s College, New York City, which is supported by Campus Crusade for Christ, now called Cru. At that time he moved from California to New York, with his wife staying in California.
D’Souza said King’s board chairman Andy Mills has known about his marital trouble for at least two years. Mills confirmed that through a spokesman, Mark DeMoss, who added that Mills was “hopeful about restoration and both he [D’Souza] and Andy were praying to that end.” DeMoss said The King’s College board met by conference call to begin “looking into the situation.” D’Souza participated in a portion of that call, DeMoss said. Following that meeting, on Oct. 15, D’Souza wrote in a text message to me: “I have decided to suspend the engagement.”
The King’s board plans further discussion at a regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 17 and 18, DeMoss said.
This article will appear in the Nov. 3 issue of WORLD Magazine.
Despite whatever good he has done with the movie 2016, Dinesh D’Souza has a history of back stabbing and slandering conservatives, very much like the odious fraud David Frum.
I’m not sorry to see him in a heap of trouble of his own making. 2016 will do fine on its own, and D’Souza certainly shouldn’t be hero worshipped by the Right.
“And here come the Freepers immediately turning South on a conservative.”
I’ve got news for you...Dinesh D’Souza has his own history of turning on conservatives. What goes around comes around.
Best to you and your spouse.
Just out of curiosity, is the marriage fatigue mutual, or just one of you with unmet expectations?
It is an accumulation of unproductive habits of interaction for both of us.
Thanks, Steve. I appreciate your prayers, and I’ll include your family in mine.
As to your being surprised ... I decided to be honest instead of keeping the mask up, for once.
Wheaton’s demographics have changed a bit since your time. The neighborhood around Moody’s used to be quite dicey, but it’s one of the most desirable in the City today. Given that Cook County is America’s North Korea, Moody’s has likely made some difference, but if the Devil had a playground it would be here.
tjd,
Thanks a great deal for your reply. You said very succinctly what I would have mostly formulated for myself, but I wasn’t confident enough I knew what I was talking about to state it that way. Evangelicalism emphasizes trust in Christ rather than trust in the institutional church, salvation in him rather than in the institution, without abandoning the institution. Is this about right?
I’ve been using the statement “God ain’t got no grandchildren” for about 20 years now, so you rang my chimes with that statement.
Thanks very much for your considered response.
Like I said.
You are a woman after my own heart! I rationalize my box o’wine as cheap therapy. My husband can’t argue with that. Well, he could, but he tells the kids ‘if Mom’s not happy, then I’m not happy, and if I’m not happy, watch out.’ LOL
Another cheap source of therapy—sitting in church for several hours on Sunday afternoon/evening with the Blessed Sacrament and the International Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which was at our parish Sunday/Monday. No hangover and the effects are still with me :)
That statue came to our church in Broken Arrow, OK, once. I remember going to the prayer vigil. My religious therapy around here is the Spanish Charismatic prayer group meetings - I get to one every couple of months, especially if there’s a visiting speaker or musician.
My mom asked me why I didn’t get a Valium prescription, or whatever’s the fashionable coping aid these days, and I said, “Why bother, when wine is so cheap?”
I thought D'Souza was Catholic.
He was, in childhood, but then became “nondenominational.” D’Souza is an old Portuguese name, dating back centuries in India, to the Goa colony.
I was never a fan of D’Souza, either, and this story just confirms my opinion of him - that he doesn’t always do what he himself preaches.
You and your brood are always in my prayers, but I'll toss in a little special sauce in my prayers now. My love and His Peace to you during these rough times.
Thank you very much! I’m remembering you and your shoulder, too!
It often appears that other couples are perfect and never have problems. But, the truth is, so many of us do. I have always been a faithful and devoted wife (18 years). I did have some suspicions about DH, though. And last year I discovered those suspicions were right. (Boy, were they right.) So I am done. However, I have met other wives who continue to work on their marriages. Some seem to be successful. The suspicion will always be there, though. I will say a prayer for you!
I don’t suspect my husband of infidelity, fortunately. I’m very sorry about your experience, and I wish you the best!
Well, that’s good! (I misunderstood your post.) Whew!
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