Editor’s Pick
JANUARY 10, 2009 2:51PM
Haggard, promoting HBO doc, now admits 'sex is complex'
Ted Haggard appeared yesterday before the press to promote the HBO documentary about him, "The Trials of Ted Haggard." (An ironic title, by the way, since Haggard has never been charged with any crime despite admitting to buying and possessing methamphetamine.) Among the entertaining statements and revelations made by the formerly influential Colorado Springs megachurch pastor: - Haggard, who preached against homosexuality before being outed as gay, now thinks "sexuality is confusing and complex." Clearly, he learned that lesson the hard way.
- Haggard has softened his views on gay marriage, saying that government should fully recognize the union between any two people and that churches are wrongly fighting a "war" over the word "marriage."
- Speaking of his firing and the way he perceives he has been treated since the scandal, he says he "knows about hatred than I ever dreamed" -- a statement that epitomizes his self-pitying view. Other pitiful statements include the satisfying "At this stage in my life, I'm a loser—a first-class loser" and "It is a sad story... I made myself sad; I made everybody that loves me sad."
- The "spiritual solution" to his fall "was not enough;" he also needed "secular therapy methods."
technorati: Ted Haggard, HBO, documentary
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Sirenita Lake
Kerry Lauerman
Molly Schoemann
Tommi Avicolli Mecca
Deleted Account
Colony of Losers
Salon.com
Comments
If he stepped forward and said "I've been a hypocrite and a liar and I'm trying to understand how I came to make these mistakes, and learn from them" everyone would still yell "liar! hypocrite!". There is NOTHING this guy could say that would evoke any one's acceptance, sympathy, empathy... Nothing. Of course he feels self-pity. It would be impossible not to , at this point. He's got a long long way to go before he can really look at events with anything like objectivity.
So I'm inclined to cut him some slack right now (that is not to say that I like him, I do not) - he's a human being finding out the hard way why the values he espoused are poison.They enriched him for awhile, but they've also bankrupt him. He's going to have to work it out, like the rest of us. It will take awhile. In the meantime, he has to make a living, and the HBO special is probably the best offer he has.
I feel for everyone in this story: his family, his church, the city, the guy he bought drugs from, Ted, whoever I'm missing. This is a guy who lived in denial and shame for a long, long time. And to deny the truth of your basic existence for so long is a hard, miserable existence indeed. The first guy Ted needs to extend compassion to is himself. The next thing is forgiveness. Whatever his journey is now, nothing can be as dificult as lying to yourself. Now everyone knows. So he can move on and grow and stop judging himself and a whole community of people.
Now, does it mean that the fight for all civil rights require a spectacular reversal to help the cause? I have no answer.
As much as I do not like the guy (nor did I like Wallace), I agree with sandra no longer miller that we may need to cut him some slack, also because we may not be in any position to throw the first stone...
Rrrrrrated!
And could some ambitious investigative reporter focus a little light on Focus On Family and send a few cockroaches scurrying in that corner?
he was (is?) and Evangelical, but he was probably the most pro-gay-rights major leader of the Evangelicals, even before he was outed. we had two gay ballot initiatives on the ballot in CO in 2006 (i think that was the year--the year he was outed) and i believe he was with us on both of them. (or at least one. i can't recall for sure.) it was a huge public break with Focus on the Family and the others, who were going to the matt against us.
he was also one of the core leaders of the Evangelical Green movement: pushing hard for the Christian Right to become environmentalists. salon did a big story on them, which i believe featured him.
yes, he was deeply conflicted and fucked up, but anyone who assumes he was all anti-gay before he got caught is making a huge assumption.
i interviewed him twice prior to the outing, and found him extremely intelligent, candid, sincere and good natured. i definitely disagreed with him on some things, but he was no caricature of some evil dick.
put yourself in his shoes. say you believed in christianity, wanted to spread the gospel, did so, earnestly, then figured out that whoops, you're gay. what the hell do you do?
i did a story on gay military officers in the same town--colorado springs--and that was the situation they'd found themselves in. they had all made a career of the military and stayed in denial about their own sexuality until their late 20s. by then, they were committed to it as a career. now what?
yes, in my fantasy, ted would have given a major press conference, said he was gay and had seen the light and intended to change the policy of his church, and the National Association of Evangelicals--both of whom would have immediately fired him, but it would have been one hell of a moment.
he chose a less courageous path, tried to have it both ways for awhile, and gave in to using a callboy. what he might have done if he had not been caught, we'll never know.
i wished that he would see the light afterward and issue pro-gay statements. maybe he's on his way to doing that, maybe not. either way, he seems to be struggling to figure out what's the right thing to do. i can understand that.
i'm interested to see what the doc shows. i hope the filmmaker was an enlightened person who both poses tough questions to and about him, but also gives him a chance, and shows his quandry from his point of view.
it is complicated for someone in his position.
i don't believe for a minute that ted haggard was one of them.
believe it or not, televangelists are among the most detested people by many in the Evangelical community, particularly the leaders. liberals are not the only ones who can spot a charlatan. they recognize them among themselves and are embarassed by them.
i don't think it's correct to apply the term to ted, either. his New Life sermons may have been televised locally in the later years, but if so, that was not his primary gig.
nearly everyone in that community that i interviewed looked up to him as sincere and intellectual. (which was NOT the case, by the way of the prevailing views toward either Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. those two jackasses were/are laughing stocks among the intellectuals in their movement.)
don't lump this guy in with them, or write this guy off as a dumbass or a person obsessed with money.
yes, he built a successful business out of it, but so did pablo picasso, albert einsten, bill clinton, barack obama . . .
making money off your occupation--even making millions off it--is not evidence that money is your only or even your primary drive.
there are total jerks in the Evangelical community, and there are people you would probably be very impressed with if you spent time with them.
for me, and for nearly everyone i interviewed, ted was clearly in the latter category. you might come a different conclusion. but take a sincere look first, then decide.
Also, I'm pretty sure Dave Cullen is factually incorrect on Haggard's stance on the ballot initiatives. While he had been neutral on such issues previously, he came out in favor of the gay marriage ban. That's why the prostitute outed him in the first place. He has been a big supporter of belief in climate change, which put him at odds with Focus on the Family and many other evangelicals.