Sunday, November 05, 2006
Brass Balls
Ted Haggard has agreed to resign as head pastor of New Life Church after its independent investigative board recommended removal. Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct.I have to say that I was sure events would go this way, if not about the details. One factor was the swift way he resigned from the presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals and stepped aside from the leadership of his church, almost before the story got fully out, all very Foley-like. But the clincher for me was when he said that he "will seek both spiritual advice and guidance." In pastor-speak, that seems to translate to "Coo, guv'nor . . . it's a fair cop".
A part of me, that I am not necessarily proud of, is more than a little gleeful that another self-proclaimed member of the Righteous Right has been shown to be not only a hypocrite -- heck, we're all that sometimes, in some ways -- but that he wore his dual faces with clear mens rea and pursued his agenda in a particularly venal manner.
On the other hand, his sexual activities are none of my damn business and I can hardly admonish that selfsame Righteous Right about its prurient interest in the bedrooms of gays and lesbians if I revel in the details of Haggard's.
Part of me hopes this will hold down the vote among the basest part of the Republican base but another part hates the very idea of anyone's sexual orientation having even the slightest role in the political decisions of our nation.
But the biggest part of me simply cannot resist the comedy, far from divine, that lurks everywhere in the human condition, even under the robes of ministers.
As reported by Pat Hayes at Red State Rabble, it could hardly have been better said, on so many levels, than by David Kuo, the author of Tempting Faith:
Jesus’ earthly representatives have a long history of blowing it.
