“The president of the National Association of Evangelicals resigned Thursday after denying an accusation by a male prostitute that the pastor paid him for sex over three years,”reports CNN.
Ted Haggard, who is also pastor to a mega-church in Colorado denied the allegations and claimed he’d always been faithful to his wife, with whom he has five children. Haggard is also stepping aside at New Life Church, a 14,000 member church in Colorado Springs.
The man making the allegations, Mike Jones, also claims that he and Haggard would take meth together during their get-togethers, which the pastor also denies.
In of itself, this story isn’t wholly shocking. Sex scandals are, shall we say, not unknown in evangelical circles. And Pam Spaulding’s got her usual good take on the issue. But it gets wackier, because now James Dobson is on the “Haggard’s not a queer and you’re just trying to defeat the Colorado ballot initiative!” train.
“It is unconscionable that the legitimate news media would report a rumor like this based on nothing but one man’s accusation,” Dobson said in a written statement issued before Haggard’s leave was announced.
Be still my heart. The media has reported an allegation! The shock, the horror, the agony! We will just overlook the fact that the accuser claims to have voicemails from Haggard, a letter, and money paid during one of their sessions. (Hat tip to Pam for that update.)
Dobson goes on to say
“Ted Haggard is a friend of mine, and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing the outcome of Tuesday’s election — especially the vote on Colorado’s marriage-protection amendment, which Ted strongly supports,” Dobson said
And surely, no friend of James Dobson’s ever does anything warranting any kind of accusation, ever. I can’t speak to the accuser’s motives, but frankly, this one seems to be reaching, although the amendment in question is only favored by 52% of voters. Has the hypocrisy of one semi-famous anti-gay Christian ever imperiled a defense of marriage style amendment? Given the fact that, you know, they’ve all passed, I’m going to go with no.
And of course, the piece wouldn’t be complete without someone bleating about how pious they are.
“Since 1942, the NAE has never had a moral, ethical or financial scandal of any sort. Thus, this is very painful,” Cizik [vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals] said. “I believe that our record of speaking and acting in conformity with biblical values will be upheld.”
I think what he means is a *public* scandal of any sort. 50+ years of complete moral rectitude among a group of 45,000 churches and 30 million people? Really? And here I was hoping to beat the crowds in heaven. *sniff*
Pastor Ted is a huge supporter of the President. Photos of them together along with photos of Mr. Jones would be very nice.
I am an evangelical and a political progressive. Ted Haggard has always been a source of embarrassment to me. I disagree with the practice of certain evangelical leaders to endorse candidates and the Republican Party. I believe that practice violates clear Biblical principles.
I find the voter pamphlet which circulates in our churches this time of year to be particularly offensive. They just assume we all agree with their narrowminded politics.
While one cannot conclude that this accusation will prove to be true, the man bringing the allegation has been in the Denver and Colorado Springs area for some time. His advertisements for services have appeared in local gay publications for a number of years and it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for him to come forward without sufficient and accurate information to prove his claims. That is simply speculation on my part but it would seem like a huge mistake if his story is a fabrication. My hunch is that the information will bear the coming scrutiny and that the pastor’s secrets are about to be exposed.
If Jesus was to be our example, then I don’t understand this thing we now call Christian values. Pastor Haggard may believe that he speaks for God but his actions suggest that he merely fears his own humanity. Further, if the values he espouses exist to demonstrate his faith in the God he knows, then the God he knows must have already seen this element of his humanity that he cannot personally accept…which would mean that any true God has already accepted that which we humans won’t and would also prove that the God Haggard purports to represent is not a real God but a God of his own creation designed to serve his flawed view of the human condition.
Read more here:
http://www.thoughttheater.com
George, we need more evangelicals like you.
The folks who fight so hard against the separation of church and state cannot imagine that the state would not be improved by association with the church, but as far too few consider, the impact of that erased barrier between state influence and church praxis and doctrine comes down to a disastrous collapse of many of the church’s core values in favor of politicking, nationalism, and hot-button media-ready issues-pushing. I worry about the state, too, myself–but to see the church brought low, reduced to gunning for The Gays, stumping for warwongers, and trying to shackle women instead of fighting to feed the hungry and house the homeless, it breaks my heart.
I worked alongside a couple of progressive evangelical Christians for a couple of years doing interfaith organizing, and they were some of the finest people I’ve ever had the privilege of standing with. I just hope you and they and others like you can help turn your respective churches around.
All i will say is that the names of these people is a constant source of delight to me. “Haggard.” not as good as Tony Perkins; but i suspect that if this becomes the circus it damn well ought to, it will become most appropriate, all things considered.
oh and: how fucking awesome would it be if Dobson got dragged down with it, at least partway; no such luck though, i’ll bet.
goddam, Colorado Springs is like theocon Central, right?
I can’t help but wonder how a man running a megachurch, married, with 5 kids, and NO ONE noticed he was tweaking when he came home? No one?
Hard to believe…..
Well, I suppose you might say that denial is powerful, especially when you’re blinded by the illusion of god.
he was just, ya know, filled with the spirit…
I can’t help but wonder how a man running a megachurch, married, with 5 kids, and NO ONE noticed he was tweaking when he came home?
How would they know to recognize it? I mean, he’s a pastor who’s supposedly living a clean life. “Honey, you’re acting a little weird today; have you been taking meth?” I wouldn’t jump to this conclusion, and I’m a liberal atheist.
He confessed to some of the allegations, apparently.
Harper’s ran an article about Haggard’s megachurch some time ago that’s rather revealing. About a piece of art in Haggard’s World Prayer Center:
While I revel in yet another example of well deserved retribution visited upon a professional hatemonger, I cannot help but wonder what his children, reared to revile homosexuality, must be feeling right now-confusion, fear, guilt etc.
It’s too bad these types of self-loathing hypocritics always have to take down those around them.
I am trying to practice compassion for Haggard. It’s not an easy attempt, but I wrote about it: Mortification of the Flesh.
Yes, and the same goes for his wife, his staff at the church, all the church members, the conservative evangelical community (among which he is considered a moderate!), …. Still, Jerry Swagart made a come back of sorts, so in a few years I would not be surprised to see Ted Haggart reappear on the national stage with tales of how he overcame Satan’s enticements, etc.
One thing I’m relatively certain of is that he has financial security. You don’t create and run a 10,000+ member church and not get amazingly wealthy.
My question upon reading this was, assuming the allegations are true, how does this happen? I suppose it might be an extreme form of internalized homophobia – but it is still hard to wrap one’s mind around.
I suppose there will be a book, and a Very Special edition of Oprah…
srl, you can see the artwork mentioned in the link below…some of it is quite homoerotic:
http://www.thestranger.com/blog/files/2006/11/homoart.1.php
And how!
this is an amazing story. again, we have another alleged close to god person telling us not to do these things because jesus wouldn’t want us to, and then behind our backs, buys drugs! i truly don’t understand how evangelicals would NOT be outraged by this behavior. i am outraged and i’m not an evangelical christian. it’s so sad to see people preach hate and one standard of life and then do something completely opposite.
the sad part is that our society forgives and forgets so easily, without thinking why.
Haggard admits to buying meth, but says that he didn’t use it.
Haggard’s not a very good liar. As I see it, he has basically admitted to using meth. Does anyone believe that someone who has never used meth would call up a drug dealer, buy some meth, and be “tempted” to use it? Does someone who is not a drug user just think one day: “You know, I’d like to try heroin” and then know how to go about contacting someone to buy some? Yeah, right.
Also, is Haggard aware that “getting a massage” is commonly known to be a euphemism for visiting a prostitute? Dude, you’re caught. You might as well start telling the truth.
I love it. “I just went there for a happy ending, and then I bought some meth from him, and then on the way home I changed my mind and threw it away… HONEST!”
Yeesh.
raging red: maybe he didn’t inhale?
Seriously, though, you don’t leave messages for a prostitute under an assumed name for a legal, hotel-recommended massage. And you don’t buy meth for three years just to look at it, be tempted, and not touch the stuff.
Then again, you also don’t resign if it’s untrue.
As an aside, “Soldiers of God” is an incredible piece of investigative ethnography. I love Sharlet’s work.
Well, earlier in the week, he denied even knowing his accuser – so perhaps there will be further revisions to his admission.
And, he’s probably defining sex as something that happens between men and women. Whereas men and men have – a massage.
And what sort of concierge recommends an unlicensed massage therapist who also is a prostitute? Someone at the Hilton? I think not…
I’ll bet the massage was from a naked man and it went on from there…apparently once a month for 3 years. Others have noted that crystal meth is sometimes used to enhance the experience for a bottom. Now, why did he buy the meth again? And again? And..?
yeesh. if i were the wife, first thing, i’d be running for testing. closet-case + fucking around for years + METH = real bad news.
I’ve tried, really tried, to work up some good schadenfreude over this, but I just can’t.
It’s just really sad and pathetic that an entirely understandable human urge like this should be such a source of shame in this man’s life. What’s really sad is that the people he preaches to will learn absolutely nothing from this experience.