timing of this questionable.
This is an excerpt from The Wall Street Journal. Complete article available at http://www.wsj.com.
By Elizabeth Bernstein
Wall Street Journal, Weekend Journal
13 August 2004
The Rev. Ted Haggard, President of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor of New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colo. Mr. Haggard founded New Life with 20 members in 1985, after having a vision of the church while fasting for three days atop Pikes Peak. Today, the church has 11,000 members, and is building one of the largest church sanctuaries in the state. Mr. Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Evangelical Association, speaks nationally against abortion and in favor of the war in Iraq, as well as other topics.
The weekly conference call with the White House lets Mr. Haggard, 48, give the administration "the pulse of the evangelical world," he says. One recent Monday, he says, the discussion centered on Sen. Kerry's post-convention polling (participants were delighted there was no large "bump"). "It's useful to communicate," he says.
Mr. Haggard is also trying to boost evangelical voter participation. On Sept. 19, he will co-host a two-hour broadcast encouraging viewers to make it to the polls and to call their congressional representatives in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would ban same-sex marriages. The show will be carried on three Christian television networks and as many as 1,500 Christian radio stations.
Meanwhile, Mr. Haggard makes no secret of his support of President Bush. Of the three framed pictures hanging outside his office, two are of himself and the president. (The other is of himself and Mel Gibson, who pre-screened "The Passion of Christ" at a conference organized by Mr. Haggard.)
Who cares if the timing is questionable. If the guy is gay and a pastor and "fighting against gay marriage" he is sending the world he message that "Christians are hypocrits". Timing is never good for people being two-faced and having secret lives.
Sounds like it could be a setup. How can he prove his innocense if he is? It's his word against another unless the gay guy has film.