"Repulsive and dark" The bit that makes me sad, but cranky comes back after a couple of paragraphs

Rev. Ted Haggard, in his letter to his congregation, stated

“The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem,” ... “I am a deceiver and a liar. There’s a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life.”

It breaks my heart that as he accepts responsibility for behavior that is shameful, cheating, and likely compulsive, but his focus is likely not the cheating or the compulsiveness of his behavior that he sees as repulsive, but that it was homo-sexual behavior. Internalized homophobia is a biatch.

I'm sad for him personally. I'm angry because his behavior, his choices, and his response to those choices have, for some people, simply proved how evil and repulsive homosexuality is.

James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, for example, who shares Haggard's political opinions, changed his website a day or two ago. An upgrade was "due this fall" (promo for it)
and they put up the new site design and decided to go with MARRIAGE just in time for this thunderbolt to hit evangelical politics.

Google's cached version from October 31 (Parents, Pastors, Halloween, and Homosexuals were pretty prominent) is quite different from the new and improved family.org you'll see today.
It includes quick links to
God's Design for Marriage.
Biblical Perspective on Marriage.
Complete Guide to the first Five Years of Marriage. (oh wait, that's not advice, it's for sale)

James Dobson discusses this situation on his radio program here. If you haven't listened to the leaders of the Religous Right discuss such things recently - if you mostly spend time with others who like and agree with you, I highly recommend that you listen to this 30 minutes with hand picked evangelical leaders known for their anti-gay opinions and political work.

OPENING AD: America, you span a great continent, whose strength reflects... America, your history rises up off thelives and sacrifices of ordinary citizens... America, your future waits to be written. will freedom continue to echo in the corridors of education on noisy factory lines, and on white steeple churches? Will enough people care about freedom enough to sacrifice, or to sacrifice the time needed to cast a vote? America, it's up to you.

DOBSON: sigh. I'm sure that many of our listeners are aware that one of the most influential...leaders... has experienced a moral failure. He has now admitted having a homosexual relationship that goes back for several years.

It's not a relationship. It's a call girl, er, male escort, er, massage...
Whatever it was, it was definitely not a relationship.


They offer a Toll-free Pastoral Hotline: 877-233-4455.
If you're heart sick about this and need pastoral care over the telephone, then you should call it.

I'm just saying.