Religion - The Last Resort Of Hypocrites

Okay, I do know that there are people in the world who lead exemplary lives and do good in the name of their religion. But the hypocrites who invoke "faith" to excuse their multitude of sins are legion. And one of them is none other than our dear old friend Ted "I'm 140% straight!" Haggard. The meth-snorting, manwhore-renting former head of New Life church. Go visit their website. Nary a one of those boys looks straight to me. In fact they look gayer than most of the screamingest nancy queens I know.

Ol' Ted, who owns a house worth $751k, walked away after being busted out of the closet with a $138K severance package. In addition to the $200K salary plus bonus for the year. He also continues to collect royalties for books he's authored. So we're looking at a minimum of $1M in assets.

How comes this worthy fellow to our attention? Why, he's just written a very cheeky letter asking people to empty their pockets to send him and his wife through grad school. He's getting a masters' in counselling, and his wife plans to study psychology. The Guardian has some of the less sordid details.

Over at his SLOG, Dan Savage has the juicier meat. For example, Ted advises the gullible among you to send money to:

two addresses .... Checks can be sent to Haggard’s mailing address in Phoenix or, if a supporter needs a tax deduction, checks can be sent to Families With a Mission, a charity based in Colorado Springs.

In return for your generosity, Ted promises you first crack (cut that out, you low-minded lout) at HEAVEN! Yes, Ted, despite his fall from grace, gets to decide who goes and who does not. However, Ted apparently neglects to tell his tax-deduction-seeking rubes that the "charity" in question is headed by a registered sex offender. Who has dissolved the charity. Is this an invitation to fraud? Colorado Confidential has details, including a copy of the infamous letter. This is the same Ted Haggard who starred in this little ep:



Now that he's been busted for sodomy and drug use, that clip does seem ironic, dunnit?

Ted, a word of advice. Sell the house, and either you or your wife get a job and support the other partner through school. Take loans, if you need to. Work two, or three, jobs, if you need to. After all, your personal friend and supporter, George Dub sez it's "uniquely American." Don't you want to be uniquely American, Ted? Instead of being the lying, hypocritical sack of shit that you are?

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