Separating church and GOP? Scandal could sway the evangelical vote
The Rev. Ted Haggard’s sudden fall from the pinnacle of the religious world could have just as stunning an impact in the political arena. David Kuo, a born-again Christian and former White House aide who wrote the book “Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction,” said Haggard’s predicament is magnified by his and other evangelicals’ involvement in Republican politics. “It’s religious hypocrisy with a political rocket booster,” said Kuo, who thinks politics is corrupting Christianity. “It’s tragedy enough if a pastor falls, but this is not about a pastor falling. This is about a politician falling, and the politician is bringing down Jesus with him.”
It’s trite, but it’s true- he who lives by the sword perishes by the sword. In the case of Ted Haggard and his fellow Evangelical hypocrites ministers, it’s a simple equation. If you’re going to hold yourself up as a beacon of righteous rectitude while you skulk around engaging in the very behavior you revile in public, you can’t claim to be surprised when some like myself tapdances on the grave of your shattered career.
There’s a reason that pioneers came to these shores. The biggest one was to free themselves from religious persecution. Too many Evangelical Christians seem to have forgotten that historical reality, and have somehow managed to interpret their self-assumed “majority” and moral superiority as a license to impose their beliefs on all facets of American life. You know, if I wanted to be an Evangelical Christian, I’d be one, but I’m not, so take your narrow, fear-based agenda and stick it. I am sick to death of holier-than-thou, “we are the Chosen Ones” Christians who see it as their birthright to turn this country into a theocracy.
Ted Haggard is proof positive of what can and will happen when a power-mad, corrupt, intolerant despot begins to think that the rules apply to everyone but themselves. Haggard preached vociferously against the very lifestyle he dabbled in. He railed against homosexuality and gay marriage while spending the past three years paying a male prostitute to grease his pole. Personally, I don’t care if you’re into farm animals; that’s your choice. This is still (nominally, at least) a free country. If you engage in gay sex while preaching in no uncertain terms against that very same sexual orientation, don’t be surprised when I and people like me revel in and celebrate your demise.
Stephen Bennett, a conservative activist who describes himself as a former homosexual, also suggested the scandal would have consequences beyond Colorado Springs, where Haggard’s New Life Church is located.
“Will this affect the elections next Tuesday?” he wrote from the Huntington, Conn., headquarters of Stephen Bennett Ministries. “You better believe it. The more and more hypocrisy I see each day, the more I realize next Tuesday we are going to get exactly what we deserve.”
Indeed. And it’s about damn time….
