Revisiting Ted Haggard
Remember Richard Dawkins’ much-complained-about, but Ofcom-exonerated, documentary The Root of All Evil? One of the fundies he interviewed was Pastor Ted Haggard:
At the time, we assumed the wild look in the pastor’s eyes was due to religious fervour. Looking at it again, it could well be down to methamphetamine, or even – a possibility which is bound to cause Professor Dawkins some discomfiture – raw lust. The way he’s eyeballing the prof in the closing stages of the interview strongly suggests that he would love to “show him who’s boss”, don’t you think?
Oops….
United States: A man has claimed that he has had three year sexual business relationship with a male pastor. Nothing odd there, except the pastor at the centre of the allegations is Pastor Ted Haggard, a well-known opponent of lgbt rights. Escort Mike…
The meth might go some way toward exlaining Haggard’s sudden aggressive behaviour at the end of the filming, when he ordered RD and his crew off the premises.
Well, that kinda sums it up for me then. Hey, I got no problem with gay people, but I wish they’d not pretend to be straight and then preach to other gay people that it’s wrong to be gay! I wonder how long the Wikipedia entry for hypocrite will stand before a picture of Haggard appears on there?
With the news that Stephen Green has been writing to British police forces asking them how many gay officers they employ (he must like a man in uniform) maybe it’s time to set up some “fundie-nutters who need a good seeing to” website.
Surely this is the funniest thing to have happened for a long time?
These things always happen with televangelists.
Wikipedia even has an article devoted to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_televangelist_scandals
And a category devoted to religious scandals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Religious_scandals
Not been able to find it, but I’m sure one preacher was caught in 2004/05 for sex with a male prostitute.
It almost makes me wish there was a heaven and hell; just in order to be there and witness the moment when all these sex-obsessed, gay-bashing fundies and child-abusing catholic priests arrive at the pearly gates, with their nasty little secrets. (Mind you, as an atheist I’d be sharing hell with them, of course…)
Denying your sexuality never seems to work, and I think this quote from one of my favourite xstain sites seems to confirm; Eric is giving a review of Will and Grace, complaining that Jack is a little too attractive:
“Avoid — I watched this show the other night and I was appalled. The character Jack (played by an actor who went to my college) especially is bad because he is the “funniest” gay character and is therefore the most appealing to young children. Also, he is played by a handsome young man, …I fought to suppress my attraction to him. I am a reformed homosexual who is now married to a wonderful woman, and people like me don’t need such horrible filth on TV to tempt us back into sin.” — http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/tv/2001/willandgrace.html
I’d honestly set up a book as to when Eric is going to be caught with his pants down in a public toilet… — ok 1000 to 1 that Ted’s involved
Kate – is there an article about Green writing to police forces to ask how many gay officers they have? Just when I think there’s nothing Dog Shit could do to startle me any more, he comes out with something as barking as that.
As for Ted Haggard, by an amazing coincidence I was reading a Harpers article about him the other day, which is archived at http://www.harpers.org/SoldiersOfChrist-20061103288348488.html In retrospect, the following passage is a bit prophetic:
“At the time, Colorado Springs was a small city split between the Air Force and the New Age, and the latter, Pastor Ted believed, worked for the devil. Pastor Ted soon began upsetting the devil’s plans. He staked out gay bars, inviting men to come to his church…”
Oh, so *that’s* what he was doing with that escort!
A “reformed homosexual”? A gay guy in deniel, A suppressed gay, maybe. I bet the wonderful woman that is married to him was dead chuffed when she read that.
I wonder what he’s about to do in this picture:
Since I read that he’s actually admitted to some, er, sexual acts he looks pretty finished.
Maybe we should have a caption competition for the picture above on Youtube?
How about: “Tight? I’ll say so I only managed to get these two fingers in his arse.”
or “I only sucked him off twice for god’s sake”
Well he’s admitted buying drugs and getting a massage of the guy in question. But apparently he didn’t use the drugs, and he didn’t have sex with him. I guess it’s the sort of massage advertised on those cards in phone boxes. One quote strikes me as interesting:
Sounds like a classic gay in denial kind of guy to me.
This is the type of denial that fundies actually create and Haggard may be a classic example of it.
He’s repressed his natural (normal, for him) sexuality so deeply that it’s actually bubbled over into absolute hate which he vents through his “faith”. However, if those natural forces get the better of you, and for most of us they do, then the shit hits the fan.
Catholics have been suppressing all sexuality for years now; little wonder then that when nuns were raped by “Incubi” they were startled to learn that the incubus had taken on the form of their confessor. Fortunately, it wasn’t the priest, it was only this demon that had taken on his form. Phew. That’s alright then.
Graham, no good at posting links but here’s the story that appeared on Rainbow Network on 1st November 2006.
Police React To ‘Malicious’ Campaign
Anti-gay preacher and religious sect leader Stephen Green has been blacklisted by police forces across the country.
The move comes after a sustained campaign by the Christian Voice National Director against gay people in the police, which officers say is escalating to unacceptable levels.
The Freedom of Information Act Unit, which monitors all police requests, has ordered all chief constables to avoid replying to the “malicious†and “discriminatory†requests from Mr Green.
Added to this, Peter Fahy, the Chairman of Race and Diversity Business Areas for The Association of Chief Police Officers, has sent a letter to all members asking officers not to enter into any more communication with either Mr Green or Christian Voice.
In the last six months almost all of the 43 forces in the country have been targeted by Mr Green. Recent requests have asked for statistics of homosexual recruits and justification for the recruiting of gay officers. He has used the Freedom of Information Act to validate his demands.
The Pink News has learnt that at least one force has previously handed over this information, even though it is prohibited under the Act to supply data thought to be intended for malicious use.
One letter, from a source known as “Fred†attempted to further demonise the gay community by asking how many gay officers had contracted AIDS. Vic Codling, national coordinator for the Gay Police Association believes Mr Green and “Fred†are the same person. He called the requests “despicable.â€
Mr Green’s requests are just one example of many actions he has taken against the gay community; he has also used Biblical quotes to condemn homosexuality as “vileâ€.
He has also attacked hate crime reporting methods like True Vision, calling it “politically incorrect.†This year Mr Green attended Europride London and Brighton Pride, calling for gay pride-goers to be arrested for indecency.
Last year he led a 60,000 strong petition against the BBC over Jerry Springer The Opera. Despite this, the BBC invited him onto its Question Time panel in 2005, leading to demonstrations in Brighton where the programme was recorded.
Despite the blacklisting, Mr Green remains defiant. On his website, he vows to attend next year’s Cardiff Mardi Gras and other gay pride events and says he is praying for a thousand supporters to follow him in his cause.
He told The Pink News, “Standing up for righteousness is what we do.â€
I’ve just read,in The Independent, that this may bugger up (sic) the Republican chances at todays election, Every cloud etc………
Thanks for that, Kate. Especially remarkable to hear the self-described “manly” Christian doesn’t even have the stones to leave his own name on his cowardly little threats.
I almost wish Dr Christopher Shell was still here. He always seemed to think Green was some sort of charming innocent, and I’d love to hear how the above article could be interpreted as the work of some sort of contemporary Candide.