Posted on 11/02/2006 2:45:28 PM PST by dogbyte12
The leader of one of Colorado's most popular mega-churches, Ted Haggard, is temporarily stepping down from his leadership role, after allegations from a male prostitute that Haggard solicited gay sex.
Haggard, the founder and senior leader of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs and president of the multimillion- member National Association of Evangelicals, denied the accusations raised by the prostitute on Wednesday.
Today, a press conference by church leaders to support Haggard was cancelled shortly before it was scheduled to take place.
In stepping down, it was emphasized that Haggard did not admit any wrongdoing, but that he felt his effectiveness would be hampered by the cloud of inquiry.
Male escort Mike Jones of Denver told 9News he'd had a three-year sexual business relationship with Haggard.
Jones went public about their alleged relationship Wednesday morning on talk radio.
"People may look at me and think what I've done is immoral, but I think I had to do the moral thing in my mind and that is expose someone who is preaching one thing and doing the opposite behind everybody's back," Jones told 9News.
The station spoke to Haggard outside his home in Colorado Springs, and he fervently denied the allegations. Haggard is married and has five children.
"I've never had a gay relationship with anybody. ... I am steady with my wife. I'm faithful to my wife. I don't know if this is election-year politics or if this has to do with the marriage amendment or what it is," Haggard said.
The Denver Post could not reach Haggard for comment.
Haggard has been one of the major proponents for a state constitutional ban on gay marriage.
I doubt an innocent person would quit their job and resign positions. They would simply blow it off and move on.
He did resign one position (don't know why), but the other is an administrative leave. This is a way out there accusation right before an election. Until proven otherwise...
Thou shall not speak ill of another conservative :)
I wasn't there, but it looks bad.
Sad to say, many ministers of large congregations think they have a sacred right (or is that rite) to play around.
I aaid about 25 years ago that people would be relieved to find out their minister was caught in bed with a woman. Now it's more and more true.
really sad, but funny.
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Says he went to Oral Robert's.......
Thats a leather bar, right?
"It has everything to do with the election. I watched a Denver newscast online. This prostitute came to the Denver Post two months ago. They researched his claims, believed him, and then came out with this 5 days before the vote on same sex marriages. Politics has everything to do with it."
That's the Denver Post for you
Whatever happened with the guy from TBN, Paul Crouch. Didn't he get accused of the same thing? What is with these people too? Goodness. Such responsibility, such honor and they act like Jimmy Swaggart.
I know I don't....uhhhh.....nevermind
If it really was "way out there", I would think he would ignore it.
If someone accused him of being a Martian, I doubt he would resign anything.
Paul Crouch paid off his accuser while denying he was guilty
Smells the same way to me, too.
I have no idea whether this is true or not, but it easily could be, and that would be devastating to a lot of people.
If he goes to rehab, though, it's going to turn out to be true. I suspect we're not going to hear any more from Ted Haggard for a while.
Is it a political move? Of course it is. Is it a true story? Could be, but none of us knows at this point.
I, for one, will not be shocked if the Dims drop a flurry of scandal bombs in the next ten days.
where in the Bible do the terms "venial sin" and "mortal sin" appear? All sin is an abomination. And all sin can be forgiven, when repented. (the "sin against the Holy Spirit" is an exception that I don't understand, admittedly)
Venial sin and mortal sin are taught in the Catholic faith tradition. Venial being minor, mortal more serious. Mortal sin is referring to the death of the soul if it is not repented. I would agree that all sin can be forgiven, when true repentance is present. Jesus will decide.</p>
gross
I hold no animosity towards Haggard, and believe that a man is innocent until proven guilty. However, listening to the lengthy channel 9 interview, red flags went up. I was disappointed that Haggard did not display the righteous indignation that one would expect after just learning about such an outrageous accusation.
Also, he seemed to be evasive in the sense of going on and on about not believing in discrimination against anyone, that the church would conduct an investigation, that he felt compassion for the accusor, etc. I did not see displayed the utter shock and disbelief that he could be accused of such a thing.
I took careful notice of his demeanor, and he evaded eye contact at critical moments when he was asked about a sexual relationship. He also carefully framed and repeated his response: "I did not have a relationship..." Could this be shades of Clinton's "I did not have sex..." in that Haggard was actually saying "We were not in a gay romantic relationship (but I did pay for sex)..." I truly hope not.
Again, I would be happy to be mistaken but the man's body language, eye contact (or lack of it), and ramblings about everything instead of portraying the utter indignation that should have consumed him make me suspicious.
One other significant thing is the fact that he suddenly resigned the NAE presidency. Would an innocent man react so abruptly and put up such a tepid defense to such charges? My gut feeling is that either Haggard is a timid and unassuming person who is unable to mount a spirited defense of himself (Christian humility is not the issue here), or the reason he was unable to strongly respond was that the accusations were true. Time will tell.
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