George Pearsons: God Told Me to Obey All of Richard Roberts' Orders

The scandal at Oral Roberts University continues to provide both entertainment and revelations about the thought processes of at least some conservative Christians. One recent installment, aside from the resignations, involves statements from George Pearsons who was appointed by Richard Roberts as chairman of ORU. Given the nature of the allegations against Roberts, others have wondered why Pearson didn't try to intervene — but apparently he was under orders from God to do whatever Roberts told him. How convenient.

When George Pearsons accepted the position of chairman of the ORU regents in May, he said in an address to the board: "I am standing here today because the Lord clearly spoke to me and said, ‘Do whatever Richard Roberts asks you to do,'” according to a copy of the address.

Pearsons is the son-in-law of Kenneth Copeland, a televangelist and ORU regent. Pearsons said in the address that the "covenant” between the Roberts and Copeland families also contributed to his decision to accept the chairman position. He said the "families are forever connected.”

Holding the Roberts in such high regard is typical of many ORU regents, particularly the other ministers and televangelists serving on the board, the president of a religious watchdog group said. "They all, in essence, pay obeisance to Oral. They all almost bow down in Oral's presence,” said Ole Anthony, president and co-founder of Trinity Foundation, which has investigated religious organizations, including ORU, for decades.

Source: The Oklahoman (via Ed Brayton)

I doubt that what we are seeing here is merely typical of "ORU regents." It seems to me that such attitudes may in fact be common throughout evangelical circles: once someone manages to acquire a reputation as a "Man of God," it can get very difficult to question them, challenge them, or criticize them. What's curious is how this attitude can be expressed so strongly in religious groups which otherwise heavily emphasize the sinfulness of humanity. If you believe that everyone is sinful and imperfect, that should create an environment in which there is a great deal of distrust of individual power and significant checks against the abuse of power.

Anthony suggested that the Roberts family and the evangelicals serving as regents should share equal blame for the university's troubles. "They could use a good dose of new blood,” Anthony said. "It just needs to be run with more academic integrity and financial responsibility. ... I'm pleased that all the students and the faculty are trying to get their university back.” ... At universities such as ORU, where the founders continue to maintain control, Lederman said "there tends not to be push-back.”

"There's not a lot of controversy either because it's quashed, or because people come there knowing what they're getting into. If you have a chance to peel back the layers, you may find that there's dissatisfaction, but it rarely comes out.”

How likely is it that a completely secular organization will be run by people who think that God has instructed them to carry out all the orders of their chief? It's certainly possible for managers to defer too much to the wishes of a person in charge, especially if they have an otherwise very good and strong reputation. Such extreme deference that goes so far as to imagine that disobedience to the person in charge is tantamount to disobeying a god is just not something that you'll find outside of religious organizations and religious attitudes. It's one example of how certain problems which can theoretically occur in any human organization may appear in a more serious and damaging form in religious settings.