Ted Haggard
Well, bugger me, if you’ll excuse the expression.
Ted Haggard, disgraced pastor of the megachurch he founded, has admitted (again) to having same-sex relations with another man – this time, a former parishioner.
In November 2006, Mr. Haggard, founder and pastor of Colorado’s New Life Church and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, was removed from all of his leadership positions after he admitted soliciting prostitute Mike Jones for homosexual sex and methamphetamine.
More recently, in an interview with the L.A. Times Mr. Haggard admitted that:
Once in a while, I’ll have a thought. I think it’s just like a person’s thought about whether or not they should — you know, it’s just an intellectual debate now inside of me from time to time, or an intellectual decision from time to time, rather than a compelling drive or urge. And that’s what I used to wrestle with…What my therapist says is that I am a heterosexual with issues, and I think that’s accurate.
Mr. Haggard also says that his sexuality is complicated and that it doesn’t fit into a box, which is true for a lot of other people, too. Although he says he believes the biblical ideal for human sexuality is a monogamous, heterosexual relationship, he admits to the fact that:
humanity is complex, and so even though that is the ideal, I understand that there is the great deal of diversity.
It’s a small concession, coming from one who has fallen so far from grace. Although it would possibly have helped crank up the tolerance meter among his followers if he had stated such opinions while he was still in power and had more influence over his church.
Who knows? Maybe that would have been too naïve a thing to have expected.
I guess I’m having issues with my cynical streak.
No related posts.
I was born in England, spent 
1 comment
Lawrence
February 1, 2009 at 2:43 pm (UTC -5)
Nicely written, i had almost forgotten about Ted, seems he is at least part-sane after all.