The real tragedy of Ted Haggard was not that he was gay or a drug user. The real tragedy was that he used the power of religion to influence his followers into believing that war was a Christian necessity.
His flock will probably write off his behavioral aberrations as the work of the devil. Maybe he was just a gay man who played a role because of the power, influence, fame, and money it provided him.
Ted was in constant contact with the Neocons at the White House. Maybe the Christianity he was preaching was not the verses of Mark but the gospel of Rove. The talking points headed down the calling tree from Karl Rove to Ted to the National Association of Evangelicals to the pastors to the calling cells to 30 million people.
I won't judge Ted for his lies, his homosexuality, his drug use, or the role he played. But, to turn the Prince of Peace into the God of War in his followers minds is a real societal tragedy. Why was the Christian community not outraged by the endorsement of preemptive war, a policy called the supreme international criminal act by the Nuremberg trials?
If his followers believe that the devil was responsible for his sinning behavior, can't they believe that his support of preemptive war was just another trick of the fallen angel?
"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." - Gandhi
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