On Thursday HBO will be showing a new documentary about Ted Haggard titled “The Trials of Ted Haggard”. It states it takes a behind-the-scenes look at the recent hard times of Ted Haggard, the founder and pastor of the New Life Church and President of the National Association of Evangelicals, who lost his job and his reputation after a sordid sex/drug scandal. In November Ted gave a sermon at a friends church and this is what he had to say:
Pretty much he has the “woe is me” attitude, the victim of what occurred to him. Let’s remember how his scandal went down:
Ted at first denied it and lied, then suddenly a statement was released by his church:
Now, the saga continues. The Associated Press is reporting that Brady Boyd, who succeeded Haggard as senior pastor, disclosed a young male church volunteer reported having a sexual relationship with Haggard. It was also an ongoing thing and Boyd stated the church reached a legal settlement to pay the man for counseling and college tuition, with one condition being that none of the parties involved discuss the matter publicly. Why is this coming to light now? A Colorado Springs TV station reached Boyd Thursday to say the young man was planning to provide a detailed report of his relationship with Haggard to the station. Boyd said the church preferred to keep the matter private, but it was the man’s decision to go public. Boyd said he had spoken to the man once and came away with the impression that he was speaking out because of the documentary. “I think what caused this young man to be a bit aggravated was Ted being seen as a victim, when he himself had experienced a great deal of hurt,” Boyd said. “I seriously doubt this man would have come forward if the documentary had not been made.”
The documentary is really about a tale of forgiveness and understanding, and an examination of the double standard of the church’s teachings of forgiveness. Perhaps this is why his previous church is coming forward? Keep in mind, at the time of the scandal, a church board member had said there was no evidence that Haggard had sexual relations with anyone but Mike Jones, the former male prostitute.
Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi says the point of her documentary is that while organized religion preaches forgiveness, at Haggard’s darkest hour, they turned their back on him. In the film, Haggard talks about how the church could have used his story as an example of how to preach forgiveness. But churches are a business, too, he said, and he acknowledged that he was bad for business. He said the church told him to “go to hell”, essentially, Haggard is giving the church the finger.
The church seems to know how they are going to be portrayed and in what light they are going to be shown. Seems like they are trying to give Haggard the finger back.
Now, with how this is turning out to look, it seems like New Life Church is one big sewer of a mess.
UPDATE 1/26/09: Colorado officials were called to investigate New Life Church, after the Associated Press revealed that New Life paid money to keep a male volunteer from publicly disclosing a romantic affair with the church’s former minister Ted Haggard. “Authorities should investigate to ensure that this volunteer was not manipulated or coerced into silence,” said Besen. “The leadership of New Life has little credibility and should not simply be taken at their word. At a minimum, Boyd should resign for using his position of power to pressure a vulnerable member of his congregation into silence.”
Haggard said in a new statement Monday that he met with the young man two years ago, along with his wife and a representative of New Life Church. At that time, he asked the man’s forgiveness for “our inappropriate relationship.”
Now here is the young man, Grant Haas:
Here is the male prostitute, angry:
Ted not only has affected his wife, 5 children, a whole church, but these two guys. Here he is making a documentary on how he wasn’t forgiven by the church, pointing out the hypocrisy of the church, but he himself hasn’t come to terms and acknowledged the TRUTH about himself and how he had condemned that lifestyle and affected thousands by his previous rhetoric.
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Pretty much he has the “woe is me” attitude, the victim of what occurred to him. Let’s remember how his scandal went down:
Ted at first denied it and lied, then suddenly a statement was released by his church:
Now, the saga continues. The Associated Press is reporting that Brady Boyd, who succeeded Haggard as senior pastor, disclosed a young male church volunteer reported having a sexual relationship with Haggard. It was also an ongoing thing and Boyd stated the church reached a legal settlement to pay the man for counseling and college tuition, with one condition being that none of the parties involved discuss the matter publicly. Why is this coming to light now? A Colorado Springs TV station reached Boyd Thursday to say the young man was planning to provide a detailed report of his relationship with Haggard to the station. Boyd said the church preferred to keep the matter private, but it was the man’s decision to go public. Boyd said he had spoken to the man once and came away with the impression that he was speaking out because of the documentary. “I think what caused this young man to be a bit aggravated was Ted being seen as a victim, when he himself had experienced a great deal of hurt,” Boyd said. “I seriously doubt this man would have come forward if the documentary had not been made.”
The documentary is really about a tale of forgiveness and understanding, and an examination of the double standard of the church’s teachings of forgiveness. Perhaps this is why his previous church is coming forward? Keep in mind, at the time of the scandal, a church board member had said there was no evidence that Haggard had sexual relations with anyone but Mike Jones, the former male prostitute.
Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi says the point of her documentary is that while organized religion preaches forgiveness, at Haggard’s darkest hour, they turned their back on him. In the film, Haggard talks about how the church could have used his story as an example of how to preach forgiveness. But churches are a business, too, he said, and he acknowledged that he was bad for business. He said the church told him to “go to hell”, essentially, Haggard is giving the church the finger.
The church seems to know how they are going to be portrayed and in what light they are going to be shown. Seems like they are trying to give Haggard the finger back.
Now, with how this is turning out to look, it seems like New Life Church is one big sewer of a mess.
UPDATE 1/26/09: Colorado officials were called to investigate New Life Church, after the Associated Press revealed that New Life paid money to keep a male volunteer from publicly disclosing a romantic affair with the church’s former minister Ted Haggard. “Authorities should investigate to ensure that this volunteer was not manipulated or coerced into silence,” said Besen. “The leadership of New Life has little credibility and should not simply be taken at their word. At a minimum, Boyd should resign for using his position of power to pressure a vulnerable member of his congregation into silence.”
Haggard said in a new statement Monday that he met with the young man two years ago, along with his wife and a representative of New Life Church. At that time, he asked the man’s forgiveness for “our inappropriate relationship.”
Now here is the young man, Grant Haas:
Here is the male prostitute, angry:
Ted not only has affected his wife, 5 children, a whole church, but these two guys. Here he is making a documentary on how he wasn’t forgiven by the church, pointing out the hypocrisy of the church, but he himself hasn’t come to terms and acknowledged the TRUTH about himself and how he had condemned that lifestyle and affected thousands by his previous rhetoric.