After more than a year's hiatus from blogging about any homosexual issues I just have to say something about the Rev. Ted Haggard scandal that can only be described as the most shocking leap to licentiousness in the evangelical church since Jim Bakker.
More than a thousand Internet news postings are proclaiming the headlines about Haggard allegedly caught using drugs and having sex with a gay prostitute. Haggard promptly resigned from the National Association of Evangelicals this week and is on leave from New Life Church in Colorado Springs where he is senior pastor (update: he was dismissed the next day after admitting he was guilty of sexual immorality.)
People are reeling. The news is unbelievable. The Rocky Mountain News reports that Haggard has admitted to some of the allegations. He was in Denver. He met with the gay man. He bought drugs but didn't use them. (Is that like smoking pot but not inhaling?) Then Haggard told the news he got a massage from the gay man now accusing him of, well, hypocrisy, among other things.
Even if Haggard is innocent of the accusations, he is seriously troubled. None of this makes any sense.
Evangelicals understand that if any of this is proven true, admitted to, or both, the levels of sin are many. Unfaithfulness to his wife, his church and his God underscore the spiritual implications of this purported action.
Why it surfaced now is obviously political, given the marriage amendment on Colorado's ballot. But then so was Haggard and the NAE. I liked what the Washington Post blog said: "… nothing squeezes skeletons out of the closet like a really tight election year."
It appears that Haggard wasn't listening to either his own political lobbying against gay marriage or his own sermons condemning homosexuality and adultery. Yet what a sting it must be for Haggard to be held accountable for his faith not matching up to his actions by a gay prostitute.
