[mv37afnr]

From this morning´s NYTimes:

"WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 — The Rev. Ted Haggard, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders, resigned on Thursday, one day after a former male prostitute in Denver said in television and radio interviews that he had had a three-year sexual relationship with Mr. Haggard."

"The accuser, Mike Jones, told KUSA, Channel 9, in Denver that Mr. Haggard had paid him for sex over the last three years, and that he had methamphetamine several times."

Who´da thought it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmNjfpoRZpE

[kasandrasikl]

There goes my dream of being Mrs. Haggard.

[truck]

All Ted needs now is a guitar, and he's good to go.

[sjdflghd]

This is too newsworthy to sit in Anything Goes:

Church Leader Resigns After Gay Sex Claim

Evangelical Pastor in Colorado Denies Male Escort's Story of Repeated Trysts

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 3, 2006

One of the nation's most influential conservative Christian leaders, the Rev. Ted Haggard, resigned yesterday as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and temporarily stepped aside as pastor of a Colorado mega-church after a self-described male escort accused him of paying for gay sex.

Haggard, an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage, vigorously denied the allegation. "Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife. I'm faithful to my wife," he told a Colorado television station, KUSA.

But in a statement issued by New Life Church, his 14,000-member congregation in Colorado Springs, Haggard said he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations," which were first made public on a Denver talk-radio station yesterday morning.

Although he has avoided endorsing political candidates, Haggard has been a staunch ally of the Bush administration. Some political observers said his resignation was more bad news for Republicans trying to rally their conservative Christian base to turn out for the midterm elections.

"This is one more factor that could increase the disillusionment of evangelicals with prominent leaders on the Christian right and with the political process as a whole, and some may conclude that perhaps their forebears were wise to be wary about politics," said William Martin, a professor of religion and public policy at Rice University and a biographer of the Rev. Billy Graham.

Conservative Christian leaders rallied around Haggard. "I've always admired Ted's Christian character and his ministry, and I find these accusations incredible, frankly," said the Rev. L. Roy Taylor, chairman of the National Association of Evangelicals, which has about 45,000 constituent churches across the country.

Taylor said that the NAE's executive committee will hold a teleconference today to decide how to proceed. He said he may serve temporarily as president of the organization, in addition to his regular duties as the stated clerk, or administrative leader, of the conservative Presbyterian Church in America.

"I'm a minister not a political scientist, so I couldn't predict" what political impact Haggard's resignation might have, Taylor said. "Evangelicals have a serious understanding of the power of sin and human evil, and realize that every person, whether Christian or not, struggles with the dark side," he added.

In his written statement, Haggard said he was "voluntarily stepping aside from leadership" of New Life Church so that its four-member board of overseers could conduct an investigation. An associate pastor, the Rev. Ross Parsley, will take over as the church's acting leader, and "in the interim, I will seek both spiritual advice and guidance," Haggard said.

Haggard declined further comment, but a close colleague at New Life Church said that although he is stepping down as pastor temporarily, his resignation as president of the NAE is permanent.

"Ted realizes this is a pretty consuming situation in terms of media, and in order to make sure the good work of the NAE goes forward without distraction, that is a decision he voluntarily made," the colleague said, speaking anonymously because the church was limiting its comments to the written statement.

Haggard's accuser identified himself as Mike Jones, 49. Jones said in radio and television interviews that he had a three-year sexual relationship with the pastor, who he said came to Denver and paid him for sex about once a month.

Jones told Peter Boyles, host of a talk-radio show on KHOW-AM station, that he has recorded voice-mail messages and a letter from Haggard, and that he witnessed the pastor using methamphetamine. But he did not immediately produce the alleged voice-mails or letter.

Jones indicated that he is going public with the accusations at least in part because Colorado has two questions related to same-sex marriage on Tuesday's ballot. One is Amendment 43, which would define marriage as between one man and one woman, and which Haggard has supported. The other is Referendum 1, which would give same-sex couples more legal rights and benefits.

"Being a gay man all my life . . . I felt it was my responsibility to my fellow brothers and sisters, that I had to take a stand, and I cannot sit back anymore and hear [what] to me is an anti-gay message," Jones said.

John Green, an expert on religion and politics at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in Washington, said Haggard's resignation is likely to reverberate more loudly in Colorado than nationally.

"Haggard is a very important political figure in Colorado, and there are tight races there as well as ballot questions that could be affected," he said, citing in particular the embattled reelection efforts of Reps. Marilyn Musgrave and Tom Tancredo, both Republicans. "I think there's less of an implication for what evangelicals might do nationwide, because outside of Colorado he's not directly involved in voter turnout efforts and is seen as more of a religious leader than a political one."

Green also noted that under Haggard's leadership, the NAE has sought to widen the evangelical agenda to include global warming, international human rights and poverty issues. Although non-evangelicals may view Haggard as a diehard conservative, within the evangelical movement he is seen as a moderate, Green said.

"If the allegations are proven true, it could discredit a prominent moderate figure in the evangelical community," he said.




Although non-evangelicals may view Haggard as a diehard conservative, within the evangelical movement he is seen as a moderate Not anymore.

[bortycuz]

If ONLY there had been a cockroach:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=faj3hKA2yKs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ORFOVDFjo

[Pasy]

This may or may not be the tip of an iceberg, but as perceived from the news, the defining characteristic of American Christianity today is hypocrisy --as the defining characteristic of Islam is anger and violence.

What a sorry state religion has put itself itself in.

[Preorbtat]

If ONLY there had been a cockroach:

The cochroach is the Anti Christ.

[paydayuscf]

As Jesus said: "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone."

Are we not all sinners? Are we not all hypocrites to a greater or lesser degree, in many aspects of our lives, attitudes, and behaviour?

[Slonopotam845]

Interesting how the ones that seem to scream the loudest against things like Homosexuality are the ones that exhibit it the most in private.

It is not mystery as to why. When your religion calls it evil, and you feel it, yuo also feel you must fight it in any way you can to "purge" yourself of the evil. So, you start to preach against it. In hopes that you will not only gain "God Bucks" by crying out against it, but fight the "evil" you feel in yourself.

Combine that with the rules of celebacy for clergymen and you get a really interesting conundrum. Men, who want to preach for one reason or another, "Giving up" somethnig they never really wanted (women) in order to spread the word of God.

This is not universal, but I have no doubt it contributes to the larger number of men in these areas that seem to exhibit not just homosexual tendencies, but repressed distortions of their sexuality due to the forbiddance of its expression in them. You do not let a person go with their true orientation long enough, those feelings may begin to be warped by psycological stress.

But that is another issue. The bottom line is, these men are gay. They were taught that this is wrong and they refuse to accept it. They yell against it and feed off of other peoples fear and detestment only to find themselves trapped by the populaity they gained by speaking out about what they really want.

It sounds almost like a Greek Fable, don't it?

[CedssypeEdids]

Interesting how the ones that seem to scream the loudest against things like Homosexuality are the ones that exhibit it the most in private.

It is not mystery as to why. When your religion calls it evil, and you feel it, yuo also feel you must fight it in any way you can to "purge" yourself of the evil.

I think it is much simpler than that.

When you are living a lie, your inner self will not accept it, and attempt to resolve it.

Congressman Foley resolved his conflict by spearheading legislation to protect children from abuse.

[JOR4qxYH]

What a homo. There is nothing more satisfying than watching these freaks make idiots of themselves.

I love Rickard Dawkins - thanks for the link Fabrizio.

[ufUUZCnc]

I think it is much simpler than that.

When you are living a lie, your inner self will not accept it, and attempt to resolve it.

Congressman Foley resolved his conflict by spearheading legislation to protect children from abuse.

Well, it is like a perverse sense of balance. Instead of just putting your other foot down where you know it should be, yuo twist and contort to do anything but that.

Most end up falling over after staying contorted for that long, but some manage to remain "balanced" until long after they are gone.

[Nopayof]

As Jesus said: "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone."

Are we not all sinners? Are we not all hypocrites to a greater or lesser degree, in many aspects of our lives, attitudes, and behaviour?

Well, I don't make my living screaming that people with characteristic 'A' are evil and will burn in hell; so if I exhibited such a characteristics, I would not be a hypocrite....but he is.

The day I flagrantly disreegard a principle that I'm trying to get otehr people toa dhere to, then I'm a hypocrite. So far, inb my adult life, I ahven't, so no, I don't see myself on te esame plane as this pathetic guy who should have just accepted who he is (no shame in it) and not scream at others for being the same....weird.

[intmarkworkk]

Well stated.

The only time I ever felt like a hypocrite was when I spoke to my children about drugs. But I wasn't speaking to everyone's children.


November 3, 2006

Christian Leader Admits to Some Accusations

By NEELA BANERJEE

The Rev. Ted Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders, has conceded that some of the accusations that led him to resign are true, a church official said today.

In an e-mail message sent to parishioners and obtained by local news media, Ross Parsley, the acting pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., said, “It is important for you to know that he confessed to the overseers that some of the accusations against him are true.”

Mr. Haggard, 50, resigned from the national association and stepped aside as head pastor of the 14,000 member New Life Church on Thursday, one day after a former male prostitute in Denver said in television and radio interviews that he had had a three-year sexual relationship with Mr. Haggard.

Mr. Haggard, who is married and has five children, had initially denied the accusation, saying in a television interview: “I am steady with my wife. I’m faithful to my wife.”

He also said he had never met the man making the accusation.

In his message, Mr. Parsley said Mr. Haggard “has willingly and humbly submitted to the board of overseers and will remain on administrative leave during the course of the investigation.”

On Thursday, Mr. Haggard said: “I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity. I hope to be able to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date.”

The Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs at the evangelical association, said the group’s 15-member executive board would meet today to decide whether to accept the resignation.

The evangelical association states on its Web site that homosexual sex is condemned by Scripture, and Mr. Haggard has advocated passage of an amendment to the United States Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

The accuser, Michael Forest Jones, 49, told television station KUSA in Denver that Mr. Haggard had paid him for sex over the last three years, and that he had methamphetamine several times.

“People may look at me and think what I’ve done is immoral,” Mr. Jones, who said he is no longer a prostitute, told KUSA. “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.”

Mr. Jones took a polygraph examination in connection with other interviews and partially failed, local broadcasters said. They said the examiner said he would like to do a re-test because Mr. Jones was exhausted at the time of the first test.

Mr. Haggard said in a lengthy interview with KUSA that he had never used drugs of any kind and that he did not smoke or drink alcohol.

Mr. Haggard has been a supporter of an amendment to the state’s Constitution banning same-sex marriage, on which Coloradans will vote next week. He told KUSA that the accusations might have been politically motivated.

Calls to Mr. Haggard and Mr. Jones were not returned. But Mr. Jones told The Associated Press that he had decided to go public with his accusation because of the campaign against the amendment..

“It made me angry that here’s someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex,” Mr. Jones said.

John Holusha contributed reporting.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

[Adiamant]

Was there any doubt as to which of the accusations he would deny?

You can't make this stuff up.


Evangelist Admits Meth, Massage, No Sex

National Evangelical Leader, Gay Marriage Opponent, Admits to Meth and Massage but Not Gay Sex

By CATHERINE TSAI
The Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Evangelist Ted Haggard admitted Friday that he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a gay prostitute who claims he was paid for drug-fueled trysts by the outspoken gay marriage opponent.

Haggard resigned Thursday as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and stepped down as leader of his Colorado megachurch while the two groups investigate the allegations.

Talking to reporters outside his house Friday, Haggard denied the sex allegations but said that he did buy meth from the man because he was curious.

"I bought it for myself but never used it," he said. "I was tempted, but I never used it."

Haggard, a married father of five, said he never had sex with Mike Jones, a 49-year-old male prostitute who sparked the scandal when he told a radio station he had had a three-year sexual relationship with the minister. He said he did get a massage from Jones after being referred to him by a Denver hotel.

Haggard resigned as president of the 30 million-member association Thursday and stepped down as the leader of the New Life Church pending investigations into Jones' claims.

The executive committee of the National Association of Evangelicals, which claims 30 million members, planned a conference call Friday and said it would release a statement afterward.

The acting pastor of Haggard's New Life Church, Ross Parsley, told congregants in an e-mail that the church's four-member board of overseers had met with Haggard on Thursday.

"It is important for you to know that he confessed to the overseers that some of the accusations against him are true. He has willingly and humbly submitted to the authority of the board of overseers, and will remain on administrative leave during the course of the investigation," the e-mail stated.

The scandal hit as voters in Colorado and seven other states are getting ready to decide Tuesday on amendments banning gay marriage. Besides the proposed ban on the Colorado ballot, a separate measure would establish the legality of domestic partnerships providing same-sex couples with many of the rights of married couples.

Members of Haggard's 14,000-member megachurch were stunned.

"It's political, right before the elections," said Brian Boals, a New Life member for 17 years.

Church member E.J. Cox, 25, called the claims "ridiculous."

"People are always saying stuff about Pastor Ted," she said. "You just sort of blow it off. He's just like anyone else in the public eye."

Jones said he decided to go public because he was also upset when he discovered Haggard and the New Life Church had publicly opposed same-sex marriage.

"It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex," he said.

"I just want people to step back and take a look and say, 'Look, we're all sinners, we all have faults, but if two people want to get married, just let them, and let them have a happy life,'" said Jones, who added that he isn't working for any political group.

Jones claimed that Haggard, 50, paid him to have sex nearly every month over three years. He said he advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and was contacted by a man who called himself Art, who snorted methamphetamine before their sexual encounters to heighten his experience.

Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard and that the two last had sex in August.

He said he has voice mail messages from Haggard, as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash. He declined to make the voice mails available to the AP, but KUSA-TV reported what it said were excerpts late Thursday that referred to methamphetamine.

"Hi Mike, this is Art," one call began, according to the station. "Hey, I was just calling to see if we could get any more. Either $100 or $200 supply."

A second message, left a few hours later, began: "Hi Mike, this is Art, I am here in Denver and sorry that I missed you. But as I said, if you want to go ahead and get the stuff, then that would be great. And I'll get it sometime next week or the week after or whenever."

Haggard was appointed president of the evangelicals association in March 2003. He has participated in conservative Christian leaders' conference calls with White House staffers and lobbied members of Congress last year on U.S. Supreme Court appointees after Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement.

After Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2004, Haggard and others began organizing state-by-state opposition. Last year, Haggard and officials from the nearby Christian ministry Focus on the Family announced plans to push Colorado's gay marriage ban for the 2006 ballot.

At the time, Haggard said that he believed marriage is a union between a man and woman rooted in centuries of tradition, and that research shows it's the best family unit for children.

Associated Press Writer Dan Elliott contributed to this report from Denver.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures


What was he curious about?

[leangarance]

OK, let's get this, uhhh, straight ...

Yesterday ...

Mr. Haggard said in a lengthy interview with KUSA that he had never used drugs of any kind and that he did not smoke or drink alcohol. He also said he had never met the man making the accusation. Today ...

Evangelist Ted Haggard admitted Friday that he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a gay prostitute who claims he was paid for drug-fueled trysts by the outspoken gay marriage opponent. Even with the admission from Haggard's own lips ...

Members of Haggard's 14,000-member megachurch were stunned.

"It's political, right before the elections," said Brian Boals, a New Life member for 17 years.

Church member E.J. Cox, 25, called the claims "ridiculous." Next Haggard will try to play the Mary Magdalene card ...

[Duseshoug]

^ Cognitive dissonance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

[acissombiapse]

Evangelist Ted Haggard admitted Friday that he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a gay prostitute who claims he was paid for drug-fueled trysts by the outspoken gay marriage opponent. Web page of prostitute accusing Rev. Ted Haggard

pageoneq.com/news
by PageOneQ

PageOneQ has found the website of Mike Jones, the prostitute who alleges he had a relationship with The Rev. Ted Haggard of the 14,000 member New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

Haggard, admitting to some of Jones' charges, has temporarily stepped down as head of the church and has resigned the position of president of the 30 million member National Association of Evangelicals.

Jones' website, found by PageOneQ, follows:



Jones' site is hosted at America On Line, where the page above was saved under the name 'Feelssogood.html.'

(PageOneQ intern Scott Hutcheson researched this report.]

[gorbasevhuynani]

In Haggard's interview seen HERE, Haggard states (~ minute 6:30):

"I haven't had sex with a man in Denver."

Is this going to boil down to the definition of "sex"?

(Does a "happy-release" massage count?)

Haggard also tries to compare his situation with Kerry's recent "botched" joke [???], to which a commenter at the above link replies ...

Uh...yeah, a Republican spiritual advisor muttering to a male prostitute "I want to cornhole you" while high on methamphetamine is very similar to botching a joke about what tool the president is. Gay Old Party, Party of Caligula. and another replied ...
Oh, wait, I get how those two things are similar - when he snorted that meth and buggered the queer, he didn't really mean it - he was just joking!

"We live in a crazy world. As you know, John Kerry said some things and we all know he didn't mean what they're saying he meant."

Is he actually expressing sympathy with Kerry here? Or is he equating Kerry's comments with the time he (Rev. Haggard) said "Why do all these homosexuals keep sucking my c**k?" ***

[hoconnor6605]

The "I didn't inhale" ploy ...

VIDEO: Powerful evangelist admits buying drugs from gay prostitute