Baptist televangelist Eddie Long said Sunday he will fight allegations that he coerced young male church members into having sex with him.

Speaking publicly about the accusations for the first time, Long did not address the specific allegations contained in four lawsuits filed against him earlier this week.

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In 2007, while investigating the Church of Scientology for Panorama, reporter John Sweeney had a dramatic on-camera confrontation with a church spokesman named Tommy Davis.

The church was accusing the reporter of bias and it attempted to stop the documentary from being broadcast - a campaign backed by Scientology A-lister John Travolta. Sweeney has returned to investigate the church again.

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A fourth lawsuit has been filed against Atlanta-area pastor Eddie Long, alleging he coerced a 17-year-old into a sexual relationship during a 2005 trip the two took to Africa.

Friday's action, which does not ask for a specific amount of damages, claims Long manipulated, coerced and deceived LeGrande by convincing him that a sexual relationship was "a healthy component of his spiritual life." It says Long uses church money and other accounts to entice young men with cars, clothing, jewelry and electronics.

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Lawyers on both sides of convicted evangelist Tony Alamo's appeal faced off Tuesday in St. Louis before three justices of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeal.

Alamo's defense attorney, John Wesley Hall Jr., told the Justices that Alamo deserves a new trial or, at the very least, to be resentenced by a different judge.

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