"And if he's right that there is a special place in hell for gay fornicators and drug abusers -- not to mention for liars and charlatans -- I guess he knows where he's headed."

Before we crow about the guy being self-damned to hell for eternity, we'd better check to see if there's any evidence. A guy calls a radio show, claims to be a prostitute and claims to be the gay lover of a prominent evangelical. Mmm...come on. Since when do we take talk radio at its word?

While I wouldn't mind seeing another of the multimillionaires from the religious-industrial complex taken down a few pegs for sexual hypocrisy, I'm gonna need to see some proof ... or at least something a little more persuasive than a 59 year old guy calling a radio station and making a claim.

I believe, said, "The louder they proclaimed their innocence, the faster we hid our spoons." And he was a pretty smart guy.

I know it isn't loving or kind, but this strikes such a deep chord for me that I can't help but revel in this. I spent so many years in the fundamentalist church,--I KNOW these people. And I LOVE that this has happened. I do feel sad that the closet leads to such things, but I am going to be gleeful for a little bit.

Plus, I just saw his video interview last night. He says, "I've never had sex (long pause, then more quietly)--with a man in Denver."

It's my new favorite phrase. And so obviously a non-denial denial.

After reading all the posts here thus far, and looking at what alleged evidence exists, and looking at Haggard's behavior so far, I'd feel pretty confident offering a bet that everything alleged is true.

It is, of course, also true that we don't have the actual evidence yet. But a simple reflection on basic human nature suggests that Haggard is through. That he's done everything that has been alleged.

His accuser has no earthly reason for doing this. And plenty of reasons not to do it. Plenty. Like, threats to his life for starters. I have to believe there are more than a few members of the New Life Church who'd volunteer to take a shot at him. He probably should be in protective custody by now.

Haggard's reaction is pretty much what you'd expect if he has had a secret life. Church bylaws aside, I suspect his reaction would have been quite different if his accuser's allegations were baseless.

Another hypocrite bites the dust. A pleasant end to a pleasant day. I know, that's terrible to say, but is it not the case that watching a hypocrite take a fall is a uniquely pleasant experience?

(and if it's all a scam, I'll feel suitably ashamed for this post. But I'm betting it's not. So I will enjoy the moment--is it too much to hope for that the Current Occupant has a secret life too? Of some kind? That would be most interesting, wouldn't it? I suppose such a thing would have come out by now if he did. One can but hope.)

From Harper's Magazine:

http://www.harpers.org/SoldiersOfChrist.html

"Pastor Ted soon began upsetting the devil's plans. He staked out gay bars, inviting men to come to his church..."

I hope that this buggering revelation will not hinder President Bush from listening to the spiritual guidance of Ted's continued encouragement and good counsel about the Iraq war and other life and death subjects during their regular Monday morning telephone conversation. Just because Ted likes to bugger male prostitutes doesn't mean that his strong support for the Iraq war is wrong nor that the war is wrong too. And, I don't believe for a moment, as some have suggested, that Ted's buggering incident means that all evangelicals have been all along symbolically trying to bugger the rest of us with their right wing Iraq war claptrap.

God does work in mysterious ways!!

You need to familiarize yourself with a man named Marvin Gorman. He was in the same cult as Swaggert and also a rising star, if that's what you call people in this racket. He and Swaggert had an unhealthy rivalry built on mutual jealousy. Gorman got caught in an affair with one of his parishioners and Swaggert joyously took him down. Gorman had a private investigator follow Swaggart, and discovered he had been frequenting a prostitute for years. Supposedly, Swaggert only paid her to pose obscenely, but who knows what all went on? Whatever the case, he eventually admitted to having a lifelong addiction to pornography. Similarly, Jim Bakker's fleecing the flock [Heritage USA] while engaging in no-no's with bo's and ho's went on for years. If you believe these were "one-time failures," you're more gullible than you give yourself credit for.

And everyone who thinks folks should wait for proof before enjoying this is right. After all, the other side would have NEVER jumped the gun and gotten all giddy if, say, Bill or Hillary Clinton had been accused of something like this without any facts, right?

a story that was months in the making

No it wasn't. This guy came forward a mere two days ago. Maybe the conspiracy to frameHaggard launched a few months ago, but the timing, four days before an election with gay issues on the ballot, stinks to high heaven.

And I like a guy who takes money for letting men ram their penises into his ass talking about "doing the moral thing."

Dear DMBFAN34,

You Said: “We do so at the expense of our credibility and, like Richard Dawkins, we’ll look foolish in the process.”

It’s a pity that Richard Dawkins “pisses you off” because I think that he is one of the few clarion voices out there deriding this evangelical madness. Is it his comparing of a revival to the Nuremberg rally that pisses you off? If it is I don’t see why since the pathologies that underline the zeal of the participants in both events have more in common than most people want to imagine.

I’ve read ‘The Selfish Gene’, ‘The God Delusion’ and seen his documentary series ‘The Root of all Evil’ and have never seen or heard Dawkins say a “foolish thing”. I recommend you do the same instead of judging him on an eight minute YouTube clip.