Now the distancing begins from disgraced Rev. Ted Haggard.
A spokesman for President Bush, who Haggard was reported to have regular telephone contact with, said, ""He had been on a couple of calls, but was not a weekly participant in those calls," said Bush spokesman Tony Fratto. "I believe he's been to the White House one or two times. I don't want to confine it to a specific number because it would take a while to figure out how many times. But there have been a lot of people who come to the White House."
Dr. Jerry Falwell said, "He doesn't really lead the movement," Falwell said. "He's president of an association that's very loosely knit, and I have never been a member of it. Most of people that I know have not, and no one has looked to them for leadership."
Dr. James Dobson didn't let this little problem make him lose focus on what is really important to him, "Ted Haggard is a friend of mine, and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing the outcome of Tuesday's election--especially the vote on Colorado's marriage protection amendment--which Ted strongly supports."
This reminds me of a movie Pastor Brenda and I were watching just last night, "X-Men: The Last Stand." There was a lot of talk among the LGBT community when it first came out this spring because of the story line--a cure that had been produced for mutants to make them "normal."
During the film, one of the members of the mutant resistance, a character named "Mystique," was shot with a dart containing the cure drug and rapidly changed to a normal woman. The leader of the resistance, "Magneto," look at her when she lay naked and helpless, reaching out toward him, and sneered, "You're one of them now." He promptly turned his back and walked away, never associating with her again.
That's just what these members of the religious right are doing. Now that Haggard has admitted at least some indiscretions, he is one of them, the unwashed masses, the sinners, just like them homosexuals.
In this black and white world of evangelical fundamentalism, you're either with them or against them. Ted Haggard, one of their leaders, has now been kicked to the curb and is one of "them."
Does it bother you that these alleged men of Christ are acting very much against the example of Jesus when he walked the earth?
It bothers me...a lot.
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Jim, and it is this with us or against us mentality that forces many people to pursue the ex-gay route. At least if you are a "struggler" and not an outright homosexual, you can find a place that the table, well at least the kiddy table.
ReplyDeleteI remember the compassion and embrace I got from folks when I told them that I didn't want to be gay, that I felt it was wrong and that I repented. I really did, but I also knew in my bones at least towards the end, that the struggle was futile. Of course as a "struggler" and even as someone who may profess to overcome, there are precious few places of ministry in the church.
Ted Haggard is persona non grata unless he toes the line and submits to the leadership around him, and even then, he will most likely never have a home among his people.