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.
There is no excuse for infidelity. Don’t like it, get a divorce.
Exactly.
That is the reaction one should have.
and if we say no, aren’t we hypocrites too?
I don’t excuse bad behaviour because I like or agree with someone.
Wrong is wrong. period
This whole thing about “It’s Okay When We Do It” is alive and well, not just for the DUmmies
Honest question I should have thought of asking on FR long ago: What does the word “evangelical” mean as you’re using it here? I know the word stems from the “gospel,” but even after looking it up in Webster’s, I don’t feel like I have a correct definition. How’s it being used in opposition to Roman Catholicism?
Thanks to all who can help!
Mid life crisis decks another...This will be his downfall if he doesn’t recognize he is a target and everything he worked for and all his friends and loved ones will be affected, especially the kids. The family must come first, not the individual.
I thought he was smarter than this too.
Divorce killed fatherhood in this country. Now we’re being pushed into socialism by Feminists. We should all care about D’Souza’s divorce.
Theoretically, yes. But it looks less and less likely.
In any event, it doesn't look like he's working very hard to keep the marriage going.
I’m too old for Dinesh’s crowd, which is to say, we’re about the same age ;-).
If the FR debate-crash lets this through ... you have a great evening!
I was born & raised in Protestant Evangelicalism, studied at Evangelical icons Moody Bible Institute (B.A.) and Wheaton College (M.A.), both degrees in theology. I received my Ph.D. in Theology at Marquette University, a Jesuit institution.
In a nutshell, Evangelicals are conservative Protestants who emphasize the spiritual rebirth called being "born again." They have a very high view of Scripture (inerrancy) and stress evangelism and a pietistic lifestyle ("We don't smoke, drink, dance or chew, or go with those who do").
I recall in my younger years a mild anti-Catholicism which grouped Catholics with other "liberal" Protestant denominations that no longer "preached the gospel." We mistakenly believed that Catholics taught "salvation by works" rather than relying totally on Faith in Christ. We did not understand the fine distinctions between Pelagianism and the nuanced Catholic view that "faith without works is dead."
Times have changed, and I do not detect hostility towards Catholicism in Evangelical circles. Rather, there is a growing awareness of a commonality especially with regard to standing for fundamental Christian doctrines and morality.
The central concerns of Evangelicals are spiritual rebirth and standing for the authority of Scripture and fundamental Christian doctrines. I have retained these emphasis, and continue to believe that "God has no grandchildren" (= each person much make a personal commitment to Christ).
At the same time I have tremendous respect for the Catholic Church, and in fact attempt to defend it against it's accusers. My hope is that Christians will become more united, and I am willing to let the Lord guide that process.
Hope this helps. God bless!
It is hard to believe the Moody Bible Institute (B.A.) and Wheaton College (M.A.) are both in Illinois. If only they’d have some effect.
Teens? Kill? I don't know about you, but *I'm* leaning towards waterboarding... ;-)
Cheers!
It sounds like Dinesh has succumbed to the hubris that brings many great men of God down - sexual sin. Like David or Solomon you get caught up in the power that comes from money and celebrity. Science is finally catching up to God in discovering that it isn’t love that keeps marriages together, but a fundamental commitment to marriage by both the husband and wife that gets them through the rocky times.
I suspect that the “fiancee” is significantly younger than Mrs. D’Souza and perhaps more attractive. Dinesh forgot his commitment, but I’m glad to hear you and your DH haven’t forgotten yours. May God bless you through this current trial.
A Christian hero is someone who in word and deed points others to Jesus Christ. Only He is our true hero, Savior, Redeemer and God. All others are just cheap impostors.
He is sharing a room with a woman who is not his wife.
Sorry, but I don’t buy the “nothing happened” excuse.
He is supposed to be a Christian leader.
Not that Christians don’t have personal troubles, but he should know that he is a role model. He isn’t divorced yet.
This is nauseating to me.
He might as well be a liberal.
As you probably know, Wheaton is a far Western lilly-white suburban community; Moody is in downtown Chicago just north of the Loop. When I attended the neighborhood was sketchy: there were some directions where one NEVER walked, day or night (the infamous Cabrini Green housing development, now razed, was just to the West of Moody). I understand the area around Moody has become quite upscale as the downtown area gradually has become revitalized.
I think Moody may have some positive effect: Moody radio is a major Chicago station, and as far as I know Moody students are still required to fulfill Christian service requirements, which include exposure to "rescue missions" serving the down & out.
Many years later I returned for a TV interview at a station located across the river just west of the Loop. I decided not to park in the secure lot behind a locked gate, but decided to park on the street. I got in OK but afterwards as I attempted to exit my parking space I was accosted by a streetwalker who latched onto my door handle and refused to let go. I caught the attention of a group of menacing young men, who started down the block towards me. I suddenly remembered seeing similar groups of pipe-carrying thugs roaming the streets and clubbing drunks for their weekly welfare allowance, and managed to disengage my car from the woman and flee the area.
Don't get me wrong: Chicago has some very nice areas - mostly north along Lake Michigan. However, there are vast areas of the city which are bleak and dangerous: I have vague memories of wide, depressing boulevards dissecting the city lined with shuttered storefronts and decaying businesses and factories.
Perhaps human?
Most sincerely best wishes and included intentions in Rosaries for the foreseeable future. Y’all are exemplary in so many ways.
Our family has its own stuff just now. Our girls’ mother, of whom you have heard about in the past, is now pregnant with her seventh, going through dissolution, no money, tanf stopped until custody is granted (either she’ll get it or the kids will go to a foster home if she can’t care for them), broken down car (husband’s friend sabotaged) still has heart problems, and a complicated pregnancy. Oh my, Oh my. And her third through sixth kids are a tight fit in our 2 bdr house for several days at a time when she is too ill to care for them..
But I wish you the very best, am surprised to hear this, but it isn’t that unusual, is it? That’s practically the only flaw I don’t have — am totally faithful though cantankerous. Best to your daughter in the CG as well.
you have a point..
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