Major Christian Leader, Ted Haggard Caught In Gay Scandal

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Rev. Ted Haggard, married father of five, resigned as president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday after being accused of paying a man for sex in monthly trysts over the past three years.

Haggard — an outspoken opponent of the drive for gay marriage — also stepped down as senior pastor at his 14,000-member New Life Church pending an investigation by a church panel, saying he could “not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations.”

Male escort Mike Jones, whose allegations were first aired on KHOW-AM radio in Denver, claimed Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month over three years. Jones also said Haggard snorted methamphetamine before their sexual encounters to heighten his experience.

..Well, isn't that special...

Update:
The Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard: "Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct."




Haggard denied the allegations in an interview with KUSA-TV late Wednesday: “Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I’m steady with my wife, I’m faithful to my wife.”

The allegations came as voters in Colorado and seven other states prepare to decide ban-gay-marriage amendments next Tuesday. Besides the proposed ban on the Colorado ballot, a separate measure would establish the legality of domestic partnerships providing same-sex couples with many of the rights of married couples.

Mike Jones, 49, of Denver told the AP he decided to go public with his allegations because of the political fight.

“I just want people to step back and take a look and say, ’Look, we’re all sinners, we all have faults, but if two people want to get married, just let them, and let them have a happy life,’” said Jones, who added that he isn’t actively working for any political group.

Jones, who said he is gay, said he was also upset when he discovered Haggard and the New Life Church had publicly opposed same-sex marriage.

“It made me angry that here’s someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex,” Jones said.

Jones, whose allegations were first aired on KHOW-AM radio in Denver, claimed Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month over three years. He said he advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and was contacted by a man who called himself Art.

Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard. He said he last had sex with Haggard in August and did not warn him before making his allegations public this week.

Jones said he has voice mails from Haggard as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash. He declined to make any of it available to the AP.

“There’s some stuff on there (the voice mails) that’s pretty damning,” he said.

Haggard, a 1978 graduate of Oral Roberts University, was appointed president of the association in March 2003 and has been called one of the most influential evangelical Christians in the nation.

According to Lauren Sandler, the author of Righteous: Dispatches From the Evangelical Youth Movement, "Ted Haggard may not just be the most important evangelical you've never heard of, but the most important evangelical, period.

"Which is why it matters so that Haggard seems to have fallen. The Mark Foley scandal inspired plenty of people to question their devotion to the Republican Party. But Foley is a politician; most evangelicals would already suspect him of thinly cloaking his identity in a three-piece, pinstriped superego. Haggard, on the other hand, has always represented the real deal. He's the one John Wayne would have tapped for his posse. He's the one who represents most how deeply political this evangelical population can be, while always disdaining the notion of politics, always cleaving toward the ranch rather than the Hill.

"If that makes it sound like Haggard and Bush are peas in a pod, well, they are. Haggard participates--or at least he did--in weekly White House conference calls, and he and the president like to joke that the only thing they disagree on is what truck to drive.

"Haggard has been preaching against homosexuality with his typical charismatic fire-and-brimstone fervor ever since he founded New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Probably even before then. And if he's right that there is a special place in hell for gay fornicators and drug abusers--not to mention for liars and charlatans--I guess he knows where he's headed."

It's enough to make you wonder...the anti-child-molester activist sends dirty e-mails to teens. The anti-gay evangelist has gay sex on a regular basis with a prostitute. It's almost enough to make you think...when someone's loud and pushy about keeping everyone on the moral straight and narrow, what are they doing when they think no one's watching?


Richard Dawkins Interviwes Ted Haggard



Harpers article on Haggard from awhile back

 

This guys is despicable...
Posted by Joe Bleaux on 2006-11-13 09:37:03
Great article on a horrible person! This is the type of hypocrite that deserves your wrath Pile. Good job.
 

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