Seven months after Ravi Zacharias, a renowned Christian apologist and preacher, died of cancer, an investigation by a US law firm has found he engaged in sexual misconduct.
Zacharias, who was born in Chennai in 1946, founded his organisation, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, in 1984. Over the decades, Zacharias worked as a Christian apologist, lecturing to laypersons and college students and established a reputation for defending Christian beliefs.
Following his death in May, RZIM was informed of allegations of sexual misconduct against Ravi Zacharias.
RZIM commissioned a law firm, Miller & Martin PLLC, to investigate the allegations. On Wednesday, RZIM issued an interim update on the progress of the law firm's investigations. "Sadly, the interim investigation update indicates this assessment of Ravi’s behavior to be true—that he did indeed engage in sexual misconduct," RZIM informed.
The RZIM statement said, "This misconduct is deeply troubling and wholly inconsistent with the man Ravi Zacharias presented both publicly and privately to so many over more than four decades of public ministry." RZIM declared the investigation into the allegations would continue and were not expected to be complete before January or February of next year.
RZIM also uploaded an email statement from the law firm. The latest allegations against Ravi Zacharias appear to be centred around misconduct with three women who worked at two day spas that he co-owned in Atlanta.
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Christianity Today reported in September that the three women claimed, "Ravi Zacharias touched them inappropriately, exposed himself, and masturbated during regular treatments over a period of about five years". RZIM had denied the charges at the time.
"Zacharias was kind and took interest in their lives, according to the people who worked there. But over time, in the small private treatment rooms, Zacharias would make unwanted sexual advances, the three women each said independently," Christianity Today reported then.
The incidents happened around 10 years ago. The statement by Miller & Martin said, "While some of the massage therapists we have tried to interview are not willing to share their experiences with us, many have spoken candidly and with great detail. Combining those interviews with our review of documents and electronic data, we have found significant, credible evidence that Mr. Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct over the course of many years.”
Past scandals
Zacharias had been involved in a sexual misconduct episode in 2017. Zacharias was accused of 'sexting' by a Canadian woman in 2017 who claimed he had sought explicit pictures of her. Zacharias filed a suit against the woman and declared the photos sent by her were unsolicited. Zacharias settled the suit with the woman and signed a non-disclosure agreement with her.
Zacharias had also been accused of falsifying his academic credentials.
