I wasn’t really aware of evangelical Christian pastor Ted Haggard, apparently the leader of some Colorado giga-church with tens of thousands of followers and an advisor to G. W. Bush to boot. And an outspoken ‘defender of marriage’ (read: critic of gay marriage).
Well, he’s just quit his job amid allegations of gayness. In a really awkward way.
A few things:
1) Why do people say that gays want to destroy marriage? Some gay people are among marriage’s most passionate defenders.
2) Are there any Republican anti-gays who aren’t gay? I know I’m falling victim to the availability heuristic, but the number of outed homophobes is surprisingly high. Foley drafted laws to protect kids from the very kind of exploitation that he was perpetrating. Former Spokane mayor Jim West, notoriously anti-gay, resigned after he was found to have a thing for boys. Now when I see someone denouncing homosexuals, I wonder if I’m not looking at some kind of closet case. Because who else would care about it if they weren’t so obsessed? (As always, see Wolcott for the last word.)
3) Though it may seem unrelated, this is really bad for Republicans so close to the election. Voters are no longer surprised by hypocrisy, and this will only confirm the impression that people who tout good-old fashioned morality are getting up to something on the side. That reflects badly on Republicans, who, having tied their fortunes to the evangelical Christian vote, are now ill-equipped to disassociate themselves from the actions of prominent evangelical Christians. Plus, mass disillusionment is bad for the status quo.
4) Watch: the Right Wing will complain that lefties are anti-gay. We’re not. We’re anti-hypocrisy, like many (though not all) on the Right.
5) It’s really sad that he was living a double life for so long. It’s hard to feel happy when you’re doing something you think is wrong. Maybe now that things are in the open for Mr Haggard, he can put himself together, live the kind of life he wants, and feel like he has integrity for the first time in years.
3 November 2006 at 9:23 am
I know a guy who is a devout christian, one of the more religious (strict) people I’ve met and he is gay. He knows he is even though he has never even kissed anyone before. The sad thing is he hides it and wont ever do anything about it and is living some kind of strange double life as he feels that if he were to act on these feelings it would be going against everything that is right and that he believes in. Perhaps people like him become priests/pastors etc sometimes and one day it all gets too much?
3 November 2006 at 2:46 pm
I have certainly seen this happen, especially for gay Latter-day Saints. They really go through a tough process, trying to harmonise their feelings with their beliefs. One side has to prevail sooner or later.
The heartbreaking cases are the ones who think if they can just try a little bit harder, God will take the feelings away. But it doesn’t seem to happen. Then you’re set up for a lifetime of self-denial.
Then again, one of my (non-LDS) friends has joined a very liberal Catholic congregation where being gay is no big deal — the priests are gay, too. And he thinks it’s just wonderful. So there are avenues, if you don’t sweat the denomination stuff.
6 November 2006 at 1:46 pm
My friend’s sister is a conservative republican christian lesbian. I have the hardest time understanding how she can submit to a republican view when they do everything possible to block gays from living their lives in peace. Why would you believe in people who do not respect who you are?
6 November 2006 at 2:07 pm
Maybe what I went through as a liberal Mormon is like one millionth of what your friend’s sister goes through. I felt annoyed by people’s attitudes at church, but believed it was true. And I thought that maybe in time, people would change and become more liberal (battered-spouse syndrome). After all, there were a couple of like-minded liberal Mormons at church, right? I hung out with them. And that way I could keep my belief system, feel okay about my political orientation, and ignore the damage the organisation was doing.
6 November 2006 at 6:50 pm
I guess as a former battered wife, I can understand the hope that someone will change although that is a futile hope. Unfortunately, her wishes will not come true.
Poor dear.
Actually I have met another mormon who left the church – they threw him out after he drove over his bible with his car. Apparently his views no longer meshed with that of the church. 🙂
6 November 2006 at 11:52 pm
Hey Daniel,
Just out of interest, how does the Church in Perth compare to back in the US (in terms of how liberal the members are)?
I’m was usually pretty horrified by some of the views I heard expressed by my companions from Utah and Arizona etc. but most of the English missionaries were definitely lefties.
Warwick Ward used to be pretty conservative at one point, but the attitude has definitely shifted. It’s no longer just Danny, Joel and myself anymore.
7 November 2006 at 5:31 am
Lauren: so sorry to hear.
Good thing your friend didn’t try to run over the full set of LDS scriptures! Running over a quad like that will take out your axle.
Alarik: I lived in Utah from 1990-96. Most times it wasn’t too bad, though I found it difficult when people would try to bring political issues into church. Sometimes it felt like constant consciousness raising, though that’s probably because I was a pain.
I found people fell into three groups:
Default conservatives: about 70 percent. Good folks. If they said horrible things, it wasn’t because they were bad, just hadn’t thought about things. One couple I knew, the wife reluctantly quit her job (that she quite enjoyed) because they agreed that the prophet had said that women shouldn’t work outside the home. No kids or anything. Another older sister surprised me by saying she’d strangle the last spotted owl herself. Stuff like that.
Scary wingers: Maybe 15 percent. Flag wavers. Like to talk about the US Constitution a lot. Read John Birch literature, and early Benson. Quasi-survivalists. Think that it might still be a worthwhile sacrifice if women die as a result of total abortion bans. Your companions might have fallen in here.
Sunstone Mormons: Another 10 percent. Democrats. Victims of congenital perversity. New agers. Singlehandedly support the Hare Krishna restaurant downtown. I actually enjoyed people in this group.
I don’t know what the remaining 5 percent were. Probably polygamists.
Perth — a bit more liberal generally, just because moderate Australians are lefty moderates, whereas moderate Americans are righty moderates. Although some people want to out-Utah Utah.
7 November 2006 at 10:42 am
Hey Daniel, only be sorry if I stayed!