Free Republic

Once she wrested control of the Senate’s Environmental and Public Works Committee from conservative stalwart Sen. Jim Inhofe (R.-Okla.), Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.) was expected to aggressively pursue legislation to combat global warming. What wasn’t expected was that she would do it with blessings from the Church. Last Thursday, Boxer held a hearing that highlighted the growing role of religion in liberal political campaigns--particularly in the name of “environmental justice.” There, a coalition of 35 religious denominations called for an 80 percent reduction in global warming emissions by the year 2050, and bill S.309, sponsored by Boxer and avowed socialist...

A Week After Ann Coulter Episode, 'Law & Order' to Air Haggard-Inspired Plot Posted by Brent Baker on February 9, 2007 - 16:27. A week after NBC's Law & Order aired an episode revolving around an Ann Coulter-like character (NewsBusters item with video) whose anti-embryonic stem cell research position so angered a student suffering from Parkinson's disease that he tried to kill her (but his gunshot kills an innocent student), tonight's (Friday) episode is inspired by the Ted Haggard case -- though with the added twist of murder. From TV Guide.com: “A popular reverend is suspected of a gay actor's...

Haggard also told the church oversight board that his homosexual activities had been limited to the male prostitute who went public with their liaisons. Haggard resigned as president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals after the scandal broke. Saying he was guilty of "sexual immorality", he also left his senior pastor position... "As part of New Life's efforts to help me, they sent Gayle and me to Phoenix for a three-week psychological intensive that gave us three years worth of analysis and treatment," he said. "Gayle and I... are both planning on getting our master's in psychology so we...

Across the board, in Senate, House and Governor's races, the wave boosting the Democrats crested about 10 days ago. Since then the advantage Democrats have built throughout the year has been reduced by from 1.5 to 3.5 percentage points. While forces are still a net positive to the Democrats, these forces are weaker than they were during the week before Halloween. This implies that the most competitive races will now be harder for Democrats to win and easier for Republicans to hold. This implies that the anticipation of a major surge to Democrats now needs to be reconsidered. While race-by-race...

A core group of influential evangelical leaders has put its considerable political power behind a cause that has barely registered on the evangelical agenda, fighting global warming. These church leaders, scientists, writers and heads of international aid agencies argue that global warming is an urgent threat, a cause of poverty and a Christian issue because the Bible mandates stewardship of God's creation. The Rev. Rich Cizik, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals and a significant voice in the debate, said, "I don't think God is going to ask us how he created the earth, but...

/snip/ The U.N. wants to send 20,000 U.N. troops to Darfur to replace an ill-equipped and understaffed African Union force that has not been able to quell the violence. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir argued that U.N. forces would start a "re-colonization" of Africa. Evangelical leaders said they are not calling for U.S. military intervention, but instead want the U.S. to use its authority as a world leader to get a multinational force into the country. The campaign includes print newspaper ads, a letter-writing campaign to Bush and other activities. Among the supporters are some of the top names in the...

The Republican Party lost the mid-term elections primarily due to the war in Iraq; however, there were other contributing factors. According to the Pew Research Centre, 78 percent of evangelicals in the United States voted Republican in 2004. This week polls indicate that just 50 percent of evangelicals voted for the Republicans, and evangelical turnout was dramatically lower. The Democrats, with pro same-sex marriage, pro-abortion leader Nancy Pelosi, now control the legislative agenda of the U.S. government. How did this happen? The Rev. Ted Haggard, the defrocked president of the National Association of Evangelicals led a two-year campaign to subject...

(Ministries Today) Our missionaries working in Islamic countries are often shocked at some of the ideas being promoted in the West about Islam. What we hear in the press is a confusing mix of relativistic propaganda and wishful thinking, so I thought I'd clear the air with some information explained to me by my friends working with Muslims in the Middle East. First, there are 1 billion Muslims in the world--not 2 billion--as many reporters have falsely reported. The most generous estimate is 1.2 billion. Second, most Muslims interpret the Quran by the principle of nasikh, which essentially means that...

Ted Haggard, founder and former senior pastor of New Life Church, plans to leave Colorado Springs and move to Iowa or Missouri to return to college, according to a message he e-mailed Sunday to some church members. Haggard’s family has been “offered two places” in the Midwestern states, Haggard wrote. He and his wife, Gayle, will go back to school together, but Haggard didn’t specify what college or university they would attend. “We are both planning on getting our masters in Psychology so we can work together serving others the rest of our lives,” Haggard wrote. The nationally known minister...

One of four ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard said the disgraced minister emerged convinced that he is "completely heterosexual." Haggard also said his sexual contact with men was limited to the former male prostitute who came forward with sexual allegations, the Rev. Tim Ralph of Larkspur told The Denver Post for a story in Tuesday's edition. "He is completely heterosexual," Ralph said. "That is something he discovered. It was the acting-out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing." Ralph said the board spoke with people close to Haggard while...

Animal rights crusader PETA is looking for a new preacher. The organization had arranged for Ted Haggard, the Colorado Springs evangelical pastor disgraced by accusations of soliciting gay sex from a prostitute, to narrate a 15-minute PETA slaughterhouse video called "What Would Jesus Do?" The video was to appear on peta.org and be widely distributed to the evangelical community. It was to show graphic slaughterhouse conditions of chickens, turkeys, cattle, calves and pigs. Haggard had agreed to narrate the piece. The script, obtained by this column, has Haggard saying things like, "Of all God's creatures, chickens and turkeys are the...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A pastor who worked with young adults at New Life Church has admitted sexual misconduct and resigned just weeks after former church leader Ted Haggard stepped down over sexual immorality. Christopher Beard, who headed the "twentyfourseven" ministry that taught leadership skills to young adults, resigned Friday, said Rob Brendle, an associate pastor at the 14,000-member church. Brendle said Beard told church officials about "a series of decisions displaying poor judgment, including one incident of sexual misconduct several years ago." The church said in a statement that the misconduct was with another unmarried adult several years ago....

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — The Rev. Ted Haggard this week formally begins his long journey toward recovery from a drugs-and-gay-sex scandal that forced him to step down as one of the most influential evangelical leaders in the nation. Haggard, 50, has turned himself over to a team of counselors who are "assessing his spiritual, emotional and mental condition," said the Rev. H.B. London, who is helping to guide Haggard through the process. London and two other pastors will then set out a rigorous "restoration plan" requiring Haggard to spend hours each week in counseling, Bible study, prayer and soul-baring talks...

Why did a gay prostitute tell the media about the homosexual behavior of a leading Christian opponent of same-sex marriage on the weekend before an election, an election in which eight states vote on whether to maintain the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman? Because he knew, first of all, that the media love to publicize the sexual lives of public figures. How else to explain the extensive reporting by the mainstream news media of the private sexual acts of a prominent sportscaster a decade ago -- a basketball announcer, not a politician, not a religious...

The Rev. Ted Haggard has been fired amid allegations of gay sex and drug use, but the evangelical leader can still be seen at the height of his powers _ preaching to thousands and condemning homosexuality _ in the documentary "Jesus Camp." In one scene of the film, which follows a group of children as they develop evangelical Christian beliefs, directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady visit Haggard's 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. He tells the vast audience, "We don't have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity. It's written in the Bible." Then...

Ted Haggard's letter to New Life ChurchGayle Haggard's letter to New Life Church

We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard. Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct. The language of our church bylaws state that as Overseers we must decide in cases where the Senior Pastor has "demonstrated immoral conduct" whether we must "remove the pastor from his position or to discipline him in any way they deem necessary."

See for example this thread first. An evangelist named Ted Haggard accused by a gay man who swaggered "I did him. And, yeth, I sold him some meth" Either way, the full truth is a laggard...

It stinks. I'm sure that is the initial response of most people of faith and family values. However, for the secular Left it's an "ah hah!" moment of glee.

The Reverend Rob Schenck, president of the Evangelical dominated National Clergy Council in Washington, DC, and chairman of the Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance, America's oldest association of Evangelical clergy, released this statement today on the resignation of the Reverend Ted Haggard from the presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals: "Ted Haggard has denied the allegations made against him. So far, there is only one accuser. The Bible says no man is to be condemned on the testimony of a single accuser. We must prayerfully wait out the investigative process and continue to judge...