How About the Elephant in the Room?

[jluetjen]

OK, I'm surprised that nobody has commented on the elephant standing in the middle of the room, especially in light of recent threads having to do with religion, homosexuality and the election. Given that the story combines all three, I figured it would be a hot thread already.

Personally, I find the whole thing pretty sad from beginning to end.

1) If Haggard did any of the things that he's accused of, it will once again give fuel to the fire of those who maintain that Christians are hipocrates. I'll be the first to admit that Christians are far from perfect. But given his strident views and teachings in the past (many of which I'm not comfortable with BTW), he would have wound up mis-representing many Christians twice over.

2) If Haggard didn't do any of the things that he's accused of, then it sounds like another classic pre-election set-up to try to splinter a voting block, not to mention that his reputation would have been unfairly damaged. Retractions never make as good a story as the original alligations.

Either way, it will wind up being an ugly, hateful train of events.

[RallyJon]

Holy roller has gay sex? That's an elephant?

1) Corruption.
2) War.
3) Spending.
...
647) Gay Christian Hypocrites.

[pmajka]

In the strictist biblical sense, we are to love our neighbors, not "Know" all of them.

I dont like TV evangelical types....

[livi]

I am not Christian, not religious in any way.

It seems there is a never ending story about clergy men being accused of gay or pedophile activities. Not least among Catholics.

Naturally it puts Christians as a group in danger of looking as hypocrites, as you say.

My take is that there are bad seeds in any congregation, religious or not. Despite me being a non believer, this does not affect my general view on Christians or any religious people.

So maybe this guy has done what he is accused of. Maybe not. In my mind it does not affect my view on any other religious believers. They are good people until they prove me wrong individually.

[MichiganMat]

Pastor Ted is not some random deusche-bag, he's the second in line in American evangelicals only to James Dobson, and he claims to have a phone line directly to the WhiteHouse. His church has 14,000 members! I swear, the louder these guys talk, the worse they are.

Now, if only Rick Santorum would come out or get caught my day would be made.

[speeder]

Birds fly, cows moo and people who thump their bibles the loudest are the biggest hypocrites, generally speaking. Haven't we learned that by now?

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by MichiganMat
Pastor Ted is not some random deusche-bag, he's the second in line in American evangelicals only to James Dobson, and he claims to have a phone line directly to the WhiteHouse. His church has 14,000 members! I swear, the louder these guys talk, the worse they are.

Now, if only Rick Santorum would come out or get caught my day would be made.

Hilary is lesbian and its common knowledge around most of the country, so why is this not making your day? Is it ok for a Democrat to do as they wish but Repub's have a higher set of mores to abide to in your world?

[Rodeo]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Hilary is lesbian and its common knowledge around most of the country, so why is this not making your day? Is it ok for a Democrat to do as they wish but Repub's have a higher set of mores to abide to in your world?

If Hillary spoke out against evil lesbians practically every day of her life, you'd have a point.

But she doesn't, and you don't.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Hilary is lesbian and its common knowledge around most of the country

Change of subject?

An old ploy, but it must be answered.

Just because some drunk in a bar's toilet room scribbled it on the wall, does not qualify it as "common knowledge" .

Republicans and right wing religious nut jobs all take it up the arse. You have the proof right in that article.

[Moneyguy1]

Common knowledge is sometimes defined as "rumor".

[Rodeo]

I could care less that this guy takes it up the arse.

That he preaches and pursues a militant anti-gay policy is the point. The point apparently lost on Joe.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Rodeo
I could care less that this guy takes it up the arse.

That he preaches and pursues a militant anti-gay policy is the point. The point apparently lost on Joe.

That's the point every day, but today the point is the evidence is oozing out and dripping down his leg.

EDIT:

In a link from http://www.drudgereport.com/

Includes video TV report

http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_306172921.html

"I just know that there has been some admission of indiscretion, not admission to all of the material that has been discussed, but there is an admission of some guilt," Parsley told CBS4 late Thursday night.................................Haggard's accuser failed a polygraph test early Friday morning about the truth of his accusations..............................

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.

"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."

[nostatic]

I heard a bit of his quote:

"I did not have sex with a man....in Denver. I have remained faithful to my wife."

Nice qualifier. He should be a politician.

[cashflyer]

Originally posted by nostatic
He should be a politician.

Isn't he? Really.... isn't he?

[dafischer]

Originally posted by RallyJon
Holy roller has gay sex? That's an elephant?

It is when the seperation of church and state is getting smaller by the day.

[RallyJon]

This is about separation of church and state? OK, whatever.

[Rodeo]

Originally posted by cashflyer
Isn't he? Really.... isn't he?

I would say that when you have a conference call with the White House every single week, you qualify as a partisan.

The "party of family values." What a joke. When are the Repubs and conservatives going to realize just how badly they have been played?

[Aerkuld]

An evangelist, a male prostitute and an elephant!

Notice that he hasn't denied doing anything with the elephant. I guess he is ignoring it - it will never forget that you know...

[MichiganMat]

I knew reading "Elmer Gantry" in HS wasn't a waste of time.

[RallyJon]

When are the Repubs and conservatives going to realize just how badly they have been played?

Seems to me it's the Christian right that has been played by the Republicans. They marshall themselves into nice groups. They're frightfully self-conscious, respectful of authority and do as they're told. Beats trying to wrangle unions.

Someday the religious right might figure out that being taken for granted isn't a great place to be. But where are they going to go?