It seems a bit sad to hear that Ted Haggard is now facing questions about a male prostitute.
What Haggard does on his own time is his own business, and sexual preference really shouldn’t be an issue in the attacks on this guy. Except for Haggard being an evangelical an thus subject to the same concerns that befell Swaggart in possibly delving into the pleasures of forbidden illicit sex or masturbation or whatever it is that evangelicals do with hookers, I think it’s kinda stupid that CNN seems to be focusing on the gay part.
[quote]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.
The Rev. Ted Haggard said he is also temporarily stepping aside from the pulpit of his church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, pending an internal investigation by the church.
The National Association of Evangelicals is an umbrella group for more than 45,000 churches and some 30 million members across the country.
“I’ve never had a gay relationship with anybody. I’m steady with my wife. I’m faithful to my wife,” Haggard told CNN affiliate KUSA-TV.[/quote]
[quote=“mofangongren”]It seems a bit sad to hear that Ted Haggard is now facing questions about a male prostitute.
What Haggard does on his own time is his own business, and sexual preference really shouldn’t be an issue in the attacks on this guy. Except for Haggard being an evangelical an thus subject to the same concerns that befell Swaggart in possibly delving into the pleasures of forbidden illicit sex or masturbation or whatever it is that evangelicals do with hookers, I think it’s kinda stupid that CNN seems to be focusing on the gay part.
[quote]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.
The Rev. Ted Haggard said he is also temporarily stepping aside from the pulpit of his church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, pending an internal investigation by the church.
The National Association of Evangelicals is an umbrella group for more than 45,000 churches and some 30 million members across the country.
“I’ve never had a gay relationship with anybody. I’m steady with my wife. I’m faithful to my wife,” Haggard told CNN affiliate KUSA-TV.[/quote][/quote]
you’re purposedly omited the facts or you’re attempting to be funny???
this “preacher” is against same sex marriage,has spoken anti-gay speeches,and has now confessed buying drugs,but trowing them away later,as is wont to do with drugs…
i hope he’s exposed for the 2 faced prick he is and that his 30 million strong followers are exposed too for being blind sheeps
So far it seems that he’s owned up to the meth claims and admitted that he received a massage from the person raising the allegations. Now the first is a bit troublesome and the second corroborates one point within the constellation of what the alleged man-whore is alleging, i.e., that Mr. Haggard gets massages from guys.
As to the content of those massages – completely innocent and theraputic vs. a “dirty” massage, we can’t really know at this time.
If Haggard has engaged in paid sex, it shouldn’t matter whether it was gay or straight massages he was getting unless it points to some underlying hypocrisy – i.e., if he had a history of gay-bashing. Jimmy Swaggart’s history would indicate that life is not easy for preachers who buy sex; Jim Bakker’s history would indicate that even unpaid extramarital sex is a problem. Haggard’s past history indicates that he has engaged in some rhetoric about homosexuality indicating that he does not approve of it (citing to the Bible for this) but is not opposed to civil unions.
Just a few hours ago, it’s been released that Haggard admits to a “lifelong sexual problem”:
[quote]In a letter read to members of his New Life Church Sunday, Haggard said he is “a deceiver and a liar.” Haggard apologized to his congregation in the letter and asked for their forgiveness.
“There is part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life,” Haggard said in the letter read by Pastor Larry Stockstill, a member of the board of overseers of New Life Church. [/quote]
Jdsmith, there’s two basic reasons:
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Haggard is politically active in the current effort state ballot measures on gay marriage and is a well-known participant in the weekly evangelical teleconferences with Bush;
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Does regularly seeing someone for paid sex qualify as “dating” or a “relationship” in the D&R sense?
Considering that Haggard is famous for pointing out that the only difference between him and Bush is their pickup truck brand preference, that could lead to new unfair questions about Bush. Stories of Bush’s substance-abuse issues have circulated for a long time, but we have no stories whatsoever of Bush getting serviced by manwhores.
The strange thing is that his congregation is crying because they feel that their pastor hurt them. How, exactly? I can understand them feeling angry that he might be a hypocrite, sad because they’re losing him, etc. but what on earth did he “do” to them.
This is absolutely terrible! Yet another Colorado mega-church’s pastor has been caught up in this dragnet… check out this article.
[quote]In a tearful videotaped message Sunday to his congregation, the senior pastor of a thriving evangelical megachurch in south metro Denver confessed to sexual relations with other men and announced he had voluntarily resigned his pulpit.
A month ago, the Rev. Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel in Doug las County preached to his 2,100-member congregation about integrity and grace in the aftermath of the Ted Haggard drugs-and-gay-sex scandal.
Now, the 54-year-old Barnes joins Haggard as a fallen evangelical minister who preached that homosexuality was a sin but grappled with a hidden life.[/quote]
The Republicans love to cast stones, so let’s see what they come up with when it’s one of their evangelicals. My question is why on earth does this guy have to quit just because he was born gay? Unlike Haggard who was a White House teleconference regular and involved with gay-bashing state referendums, Barnes was at least not trying to bash gays to cover for his own predelictions.
[quote]Unlike Haggard, who had the ear of the White House, Barnes is not a household name. He is a self-described introvert who avoids politics, preferring to talk about a Gen-X service at the nondenominational church he started 28 years ago in his basement, church officials said.
Barnes and Grace Chapel stayed out of the debate over Amendment 43, a measure approved by Colorado voters last month defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
“I can’t think of a single sermon where he ever had a political agenda,” said Dave Palmer, an associate pastor.[/quote]
Perhaps because it is hypocritical being a cleric of a religion that states gay sex is an abomination of God?
what’s with the fascination of IP posters for avatars of old peoples???
Are you saying my Darwin avatar isn’t sexy?
It helps to lend a false gravitas to our harebrained arguments. I chose the most intense looking ancient asshole I could find. Fred chose the sleepiest available to him.
Mine helps me convince other posters that I am old and too set in my ways to change, and that they should get a damn haircut and shave for god’s sake!