Ted Haggard, President of NEA resigns amidst gay sex allegations

[monte55coleman]

not looking good when it comes to turning out the base; he was president of the National Evangelicals Association, and even more powerful than the Honorable James Dobson of Focus on the Family, and spoke weekly with President Bush. He was credited with giving Bush a big assist in turning out the conservative base in 2004 through the pro marriage/ fighting the Pelosi Homosexual agenda message.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061102/ap_on_re_us/haggard_sex_allegations

I think the base ultimately abanonded the Republican party when they figured that their donations were being used to pay legal fees for Republican operatives arrested for election tampering in New Hampshire in 2002 via phone jamming.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/16/AR2006051601712.html

[Teller]

<---- Part of the conservative base, has never heard of this guy.

Excellent first post for a partisan hack. Welcome to the board! :laugh:

[Johnny Punani]

Maybe they will. For awhile until they find out how messed up things get under Democratic control.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Hahaha. This one is funny too.

[Teller]

Maybe I'm too much of a conspiracy theorist, but this dude shows up, posts once in an effort to slam the RNC and is gone. He also apparently doesn't know that Monte Coleman wore 51, so he can't be a Redskin fan (unless their's some alternate meaning behind the 55 that I'm missing.)

I'm calling left-wing plant.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Another cornholer, big whup.

[The 12th Commandment]

I thought it was the NEA for teachers. :laugh: I figured some dem was getting heat.

[Teller]

I thought it was the NEA for teachers. :laugh: I figured some dem was getting heat.

Those damnable morally bankrupt liberals! And teaching our kids no less! WTF has this country come to???

Errrr....

Nevermind, carry on.

[DeanCollins]

"COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The leader of the influential National Association of Evangelicals, a vocal opponent of the drive for same-sex marriage, resigned Thursday after being accused of paying for sex with a man.

The Rev. Ted Haggard also stepped aside as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church while a church panel investigates, saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."

The investigation came after a 49-year-old man told a Denver radio station that Haggard paid him to have sex."

In a written statement, 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. In the interim, I will seek both spiritual advice and guidance."

Mike Jones, 49, told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month for three years. His allegations were first aired on KHOW-AM in Denver.

Jones said that he had advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard.

He said that he last had sex with Haggard in August and that he did not warn him before making his allegations this week.

Jones said he has voice mail messages from Haggard, as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash, though he declined to make any of it available to the AP.

"There's some stuff on there (the voice mails) that's pretty damning," he said.""

It'll take a lot of Kerrisms to make up for another ® F-bait :laugh:

[prophet]

I admire Haggard greatly. When I first saw the name I felt I was hit with a ton of bricks. This guy has been nothing, but an "Outstanding" leader for spirit filled evangelicals.

I am glad he steped down without a fight... that shows class.

I highly doubt it is true...., but if it is I still respect him for what he has done. I will pray for him, and I thank God for His great mercy in exposing this if it is true... for the saving of his soul.

[twa]

I thought it was the NEA for teachers. :laugh: I figured some dem was getting heat.

That was my first thought too :laugh:

Thats bad when you got to pay to go gay.

[redskingluvr]

He is probably a 24 yr old gay activist kid wanting to hurt repubs, hoping to sway evangelicals to vote for his gay friends and his gay supporting party.

Demos operate under this delusion that real christians will support them and see them as no more sinful than repubs. Aint gonna happen. Nice pipe dream hitlery. You lose, bad strategy, go home now.

This type of thing will actually make evangelicals say, omg, the situation is worse than we thought, we need to shut them down NOW! Before they get our kids, they r already getting our preachers! Run and vote repub NOW, protect your kids.....that is how evangelicals will respond. I bet evangelicals turn out in record numbers and it ruins the demo strategy just due to this.

But hitlery and the gay left like to play with their own minds and try to convince themselves otherwise. They actually think they can deceive and win the votes of evangelicals. Not gonna happen. It will backfire.

Interesting he sudddenly feels a need to announce this the week before elections??? Sounds like a setup to me. Sting operation, and Ted fell for it somehow.

[swaroopm]

The investigation came after a 49-year-old man told a Denver radio station that Haggard paid him to have sex."

Mike Jones, 49, told The Associated Press that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month for three years. His allegations were first aired on KHOW-AM in Denver.

He is probably a 24 yr old gay activist kid wanting to hurt repubs,

Learn to read.

Once you do, look up the word "hypocrite" in the dictionary.

[Fergasun]

I don't know what to think of this.

My pastor mentioned something about a Christian leader whose name will shock us being involved in homosexual adultery either this past week or 2 weeks ago. I paused to wonder who he could mean... I guess it turns out to be this guy. Doing some Googling linked my pastor Ted Haggard.

I still think this sounds a little fishy and the timing is fishy as well... but that's politics. If you get yourself involved you better make sure all your skeleton's are revealed.

It's not the first time a Pastor was caught in a homosexual affair, in fact a branch off of my church experienced a similar thing. I don't understand people who are married with kids all of a sudden "turning", and I don't understand why someone who is like that would get married and have kids.

[redskingluvr]

I meant the guy who started the thread, some folks r questioning his sudden appearance here with this post. It is his first post, so most likely he is an activist or pundit, most likely a democrat one, and most likely a gay one. The definition of hypocrite has nothing to do with that. Neither does the facts I posted about political games and how the public will most likely respond to those games.

The evangelical community does not respond well to that type of cajoling. It will most likely incite them to action, not inaction or apathy, or make them any more prone to vote demo. Just the opposite, they will see it as an infiltration of their camp or group of a vile kind, a case example of the corruption of sin of that kind, and want to fight it even more. They won't respond like a gay man and go, "Oh how hypocritical! We should vote for democrats who oppose all our principles." Ain't gonna happen.

It will be a call to battle stations and war for them. Lock and load.

[swaroopm]

Obviously the allegations are not confirmed, and it's suspicious coming so close before the election (given the gay marriage ballot initiative in Haggard's home state of Colorado).

The resignation by Haggard seems suspicious to me, just because of the "well why would he resign if he didn't do anything" argument. You'd think he'd want to stand up and fight for his "principles." Instead we get "I hope to be able to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date." He sounds just like Congressman Foley (after the scandal broke) or Rafael Palmeiro (regarding the steroids), and you'll recall that those guys never actually cleared their names "at a later date." Well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Of course, the allegations will be a lot more convincing if the supposed voice mail recordings become public. If the guy really has Haggard on voice mail, it'll be pretty damning, though you have to wonder how and why the guy has kept that voice mail for so long (a couple of months?). Again, we'll just have to wait and see.

Maybe I'm too much of a conspiracy theorist, but this dude shows up, posts once in an effort to slam the RNC and is gone. He also apparently doesn't know that Monte Coleman wore 51, so he can't be a Redskin fan (unless their's some alternate meaning behind the 55 that I'm missing.)

I'm calling left-wing plant.

I hate all this left-wing/right-wing garbage. It's a news story. Why is it relevant who posted it on es? DeanCollins also posted an article in the thread; is he a "left-wing plant" also? What, any time another conservative hack is exposed, it's a "vast left-wing conspiracy" at work?

I meant the guy who started the thread, some folks r questioning his sudden appearance here with this post. It is his first post, so most likely he is an activist or pundit, most likely a democrat one, and most likely a gay one.

It's not a "sudden appearance" and it's not his first post - posts in "the Tailgate" don't count towards post count. It's his 5th post, which is easy enough to look up. In any case, it's irrelevant who posted the article; the same news was posted in this thread by DeanCollins and is available from many news sources around the country.

Of course, if you want to distract yourself from the apparent hypocrisy of Haggard and his ilk, I guess one way of doing it is to focus on one person who is delivering the information rather than the information itself. Enjoy your life of denial. You're probably also a supporter of Don Sherwood (R-PA), the "family values" incumbent and adulterer. Hey, do what they say, not what they do!

They won't respond like a gay man and go, "Oh how hypocritical! We should vote for democrats who oppose all our principles." Ain't gonna happen.

Well, you can support those who openly oppose your principles, or you can support hypocrites who claim to espouse your principles and then, behind closed doors, do just the opposite of what they preach. Up to you. Looks to me like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

It will be a call to battle stations and war for them. Lock and load.

Yeah, go evangelicals! I'm sure this is what Christ would have said about the situation.

[Thiebear]

I don't know how many times this needs to be pointed out.

Look for the person yelling the loudest AGAINST something, then understand he's probably guilty.

Happens all the time. The preacher with the bullhorn, the guy on the committee passing the strongest laws...

its their beard.

[stwasm]

When I saw "NEA," I thought this was the National Education Association.

[Chief skin]

Absolutely amazing, I guess Rove was right the evangelicals are usefull fools. Tell them what they want to hear get their vote then kick them to the curb

[twa]

Absolutely amazing, I guess Rove was right the evangelicals are usefull fools. Tell them what they want to hear get their vote then kick them to the curb

I don't know, the evangelicals I know are fairly well capable of judging the fools in politics and understanding the effects of sin, even in thier leadership.

We have one perfect model, everything else is subject to failure.

[swaroopm]

Uh oh..."some admission of indiscretion"...maybe he is in fact a total hypocrite.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110300317.html

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; 7:16 AM

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 later interview with a different local station, the church's associate pastor said Haggard had offered "some admission of indiscretion" to the church leadership -- though "not admission to all of the material that has been discussed."

"There is an admission of some guilt," the Rev. Ross Parsley told KKTV 11 News Thursday evening. Parsley, who has been tapped to serve as interim pastor of New Life Church while the allegations are investigated, said he did not have details, and told the television station that the 14,000-member Colorado Springs congregation continued to support Haggard "100 percent."

In an earlier statement issued by the church, 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. "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.

[Zguy28]

I don't know what to think of this.

My pastor mentioned something about a Christian leader whose name will shock us being involved in homosexual adultery either this past week or 2 weeks ago. I paused to wonder who he could mean... I guess it turns out to be this guy. Doing some Googling linked my pastor Ted Haggard.

I still think this sounds a little fishy and the timing is fishy as well... but that's politics. If you get yourself involved you better make sure all your skeleton's are revealed.

It's not the first time a Pastor was caught in a homosexual affair, in fact a branch off of my church experienced a similar thing. I don't understand people who are married with kids all of a sudden "turning", and I don't understand why someone who is like that would get married and have kids.

You might be thinking of this: http://fox21news.com/Global/story.asp?S=5613654

[Zguy28]

This is what was issued by New Life Church:

November 2, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From New Life Church

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Rev. Ted Haggard, Senior Pastor of New Life Church, stated today that he could "not

continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations made on Denver talk radio this

morning." He, therefore, placed himself on administrative leave, pending investigation, spiritual

counsel, and a decision by the church's board of overseers. Pastor 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. In the

interim, I will seek both spiritual advice and guidance."

Under the governing structure of New Life Church, there is a board of overseers

consisting of four senior pastors of other congregations. Those overseers have authority to

conduct an inquiry, to discipline the senior pastor, to remove him from his position, or to restore

him to ministry. The overseers of New Life Church are: Rev. Larry Stockstill, Senior Pastor of

Bethany World Prayer Center, in Baker, Louisiana; Rev. Mark Cowart, Senior Pastor of Church

For All Nations in Colorado Springs; Rev. Tim Ralph, Senior Pastor of New Covenant

Fellowship in Larkspur, Colorado; and Rev. Michael Ware, Senior Pastor of Victory Church in

Westminister, Colorado.

In the interim, New Life Church Associate Senior Pastor, Rev. Ross Parsley, will serve as

Acting Senior Pastor of the church. Rev. Parsley has served in senior ministry positions at New

Life Church for fifteen years. Rev. Parsley requested the community's compassion and prayers

for the person who came forward with accusations, for the Haggard family, and for the New Life

Church community. He also said, "New Life Church long ago adopted an overseer model of

governance for situations just like this. People need to be patient and allow this process to

unfold as it was designed to do."

Pastor Haggard also resigned today as President of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Please excuse the formatting, it came from a PDF.

[Darc Requiem]

I don't know what to think of this.

My pastor mentioned something about a Christian leader whose name will shock us being involved in homosexual adultery either this past week or 2 weeks ago. I paused to wonder who he could mean... I guess it turns out to be this guy. Doing some Googling linked my pastor Ted Haggard.

I still think this sounds a little fishy and the timing is fishy as well... but that's politics. If you get yourself involved you better make sure all your skeleton's are revealed.

It's not the first time a Pastor was caught in a homosexual affair, in fact a branch off of my church experienced a similar thing. I don't understand people who are married with kids all of a sudden "turning", and I don't understand why someone who is like that would get married and have kids.

They don't suddenly turn. Its just hiding in plain sight. Instead of admitting to themselves they are gay. They get married, have kids, and pretend that they aren't gay. It seems this Haggard guy was on the downlow if these allegations are true. This reminds me of when Limbaugh was attacking drug addicts while he was one. Or when Republican senators where going after Clinton over Lewinski and then got exposed for having affairs themselves. Or when the Democrats attacked Bush's military service record but defending Clintons lack of service. People in glass house's shouldn't throw stones.

[Johnny Punani]

If he is guilty I'm glad he was exposed.

It should send a clear message to anyone in a Christian leadership position. God holds you to a higher standard and he will (as it's been shown many times before) let you fall on your face if you disgrace him.