Prostitution. Homosexuality. Evangelism. Fatherhood. Sounds to me like the perfect mix for a quality taping of Jerry Springer. But these words weren't for a talk show this past week. As of Nov. 1, these are words that have been thrown onto the church walls.
The recent accusations, and later confessions, of former mega-church New Life pastor Ted Haggard shook the pews and rocked the pulpit when a male prostitute exposed Haggard in sexual immorality and drug purchasing.
Adding to the scandal, the Colorado Springs pastor and father of five has been a big backer of the Colorado ballot initiative that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Hypocrisy? I sure think so. Betrayal? Most definitely. Deception? Without a doubt.
But in the muddled confusion of what looks like another blow to American Christian culture, we have to get the problem straight. The panel that decided to demote Haggard's pastoral position stated Nov. 7 that their decisions were never based on the homosexual element of the scandal. Despite what newsreels everywhere are trying to claim, this isn't an issue about homosexuality and whether or not the Christian church is homophobic. This is about infidelity, immorality and dishonesty. And then forgiveness.
This is an issue about the failings of every human - pastor, rabbi, politician, CEO, professor. Yeah, it's a shame that this happened. Yeah, nobody wants to see a respected leader get slammed by public humiliation. But you know what? It happens. People fail. And more importantly, we have to decide where to go from here.
It's about time we wake up and see that homosexuality is not the only issue of questionable morality, whether in the church or not. When a church makes this issue the forefront for political and moral debate, things are going to get messy. Small and big problems alike, we've all got them. If nothing else comes out of this mess, that's what needs to be remembered.
Here's the kicker of the crisis: Haggard wrote an apology letter to New Life church Sunday confessing himself as a "deceiver and a liar." It doesn't seem logical for Haggard to expect a letter to Band-Aid the situation and hope for a healing by next Sunday. But that's close to what is happening. Somehow, despite the congregation's shock and distress at Haggard's confession, they forgive Haggard's actions and continue to love him in spite of everything. His congregation gives him forgiveness and sympathy when it's condemnation and blame that others think he deserves. While nothing else about this Haggard-chaos reflects the ideals of the church, let the ideal of forgiveness, shown by the congregation, stand strong.
Maybe it's time the evangelicals were shaken up a little. The Haggard crisis is an opportunity to examine the ideals that we hold for not only the church, but for each other. Instead of dwelling of the juicy gossip of the predicament, we need to dig to the root of the problems and work for a change.
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