Meanwhile, Back at the MSM, Gay Sex for Everyone!--MORE UPDATES Scroll Down

I read about this last night. The U.S.A. Today leads with "Evangelical leader hit with gay sex claims." I asked my husband if he had heard of the pastor. His response was the same as mine, "Who?"

Newsflash, major media: the Christian community is not the Borg. I am barely vaguely aware of what happens outside of my little 200 membered church here in the Houston area. How the hell (oops! Hades) would I know about a church leader in Denver?

Oh, yeah, I remember. Christians aren't individuals they are a monolithic gay-hating homophobic organism so when an "evangelical" somewhere, anywhere in the world gets accused of gay sex, we are supposed to recoil in horror, run for the hills, and give up on the Republicans.

So far, the pastor denies all of the fine, upstanding (former) male prostitute's accusations who brings forth the story because this married pastor, father of five is a hypocrite:

Jones told the radio station he went public because of Haggard's support for Colorado's proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

"I cried many nights; I got sick tormenting myself about whether I should do this," he said. "I finally had to come to peace with myself. ... I had to do the moral thing."

Jones, who said he no longer worked as a prostitute, described himself as a Christian and said that although he was a registered Democrat he had voted for Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush for president.

Let's just say the pastor is guilty of this behavior--I wouldn't be surprised in the least, but I'm rather cynical about people in positions of absolute power. You know, like Pastors and Newspaper editors and Judges. That power tends to....what's that? Oh yeah, corrupt. Why didn't this Christian, former prostitute go to his brother, ala Matthew 18? And if the sin wasn't stopped, why didn't he follow the next step and go with a witness? Does his Bible resolve matters of sin via the Press?

That the media continues to run these kind of articles reveals yet their utter contempt for the average person, especially average Christian person. Christians are hateful, mean-spirited cretins in this world-view. Oh, and they're hypocrites. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

About that last part? The MSM is right. There isn't a non-sinning person on this planet. Unlike the Press who believes people like Ma Sheehan have unassailable moral authority, Christians tend to believe the only one with moral authority is Jesus. The rest of us are contemptible worms worthy of death, who by grace, are saved from that fate--not because of perfection, but because of belief.

Most Christians I know don't throw stones at passing sodomites or adulterers or fornicators or thieves or idolaters or disrespectful children or drug addicts or alcoholics or murderers. Most Christians hope for mercy and beg for forgiveness. Most Christians repent of their sins and finally find freedom. Most Christians want to help others do the same.

The cursing and condemnation isn't coming from Christians these days, but since the source of the cursing and condemnation don't usually believe God exists, they're under no moral obligation to cease the rancorous hate. I don't see it ending any time soon.

UPDATE: LaShawn Barber has more. She says, "Here’s a newsflash for unbelievers: Christians can be perverts, too!"

Shakespeare's Sister says this:

And here are some other rather amusing details: Haggard found Jones either “through an ad Jones placed in a gay newspaper or on the website Rentboy.com.” (Yes, that sounds like someone just looking for a meth dealer.) And for two and a half years, Jones had no idea what Haggard’s position was, but “about six months ago,” Jones was watching TV and “saw a History Channel program on the Antichrist that included Haggard as an expert.” An evangelical leader outed to his gay hooker via a cable documentary featuring his expertise on the Antichrist. The best fiction writers in the world couldn’t come up with this stuff.

The News Blog concludes: "I have decided there is only one answer, God has tired of the Republicans."

Glenn Reynolds has an excellent insight:

This puts me in mind of something I wrote a while back, drawing on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. And reader Mark Shepard notes an even more on-point passage from another Stephenson book:

"You know, when I was a young man, hypocrisy was deemed the worst of vices," Finkle-McGraw said. "It was all because of moral relativism. You see, in that sort of a climate, you are not allowed to criticise others -- after all, if there is no absolute right and wrong, then what grounds is there for criticism?"

"Now, this led to a good deal of general frustration, for people are naturally censorious and love nothing better than to criticise others' shortcomings. And so it was that they seized on hypocrisy and elevated it from a ubiquitous peccadillo into the monarch of all vices. For, you see, even if there is no right and wrong, you can find grounds to criticise another person by contrasting what he has espoused with what he has actually done. In this case, you are not making any judgment whatsoever of his behaviour -- you are merely pointing out that he has said one thing and done another. Virtually all political discourse in the days of my youth was devoted to the ferreting out of hypocrisy.

"We take a somewhat different view of hypocrisy," Finkle-McGraw continued. "In the late-twentieth-century Weltanschauung, a hypocrite was someone who espoused high moral views as part of a planned campaign of deception -- he never held these beliefs sincerely and routinely violated them in privacy. Of course, most hypocrites are not like that. Most of the time it's a spirit-is-willing, flesh-is-weak sort of thing."

"That we occasionally violate our own stated moral code," Major Napier said, working it through, "does not imply that we are insincere in espousing that code."

Stephenson's position as a moral thinker is underrated. Of course, that's an advantage of writing science fiction -- you can slip that stuff in without being overbearing.

It seems inconceivable to some that a gay man could oppose gay marriage and believe practicing homosexuality is wrong. Is it possible that he so vehemently opposes gay marriage not just because of religious beliefs but because of his experiences? There has to be a drug addict somewhere who wishes drugs were banished and opposes drug use--for moral as well as experiential reasons. Isn't that the same for any sin, any addiction that interferes with a relationship with God?

UPDATE II: Ace makes essentially my point, but is funnier, as usual, and more subversive, but he gets the gist of it right off the bat and I'm pilfering his post in it's entirety.

Biggest Story Of The Century: Some Guy You Never Heard Of Is A Homo

—Ace

At least according to the left, it's a very, very big story.

Because this guy you never heard of is also an Evangelist you never heard of, and making anti-gay statements you never heard of, while having gay sex with dudes you definitely never heard of.

But it turns out he's a homo, so suddenly he's someone you're going to be hearing a lot about, and, in fact, will become within 24 hours The Most Important Figure On The Religious Right In All Of The History Of The Universe.

And you'll hear less about the fact that, for a fire-breathing right-winger, he was kind of a liberal pussy.

But no matter. I just found out another one of my heroes who I had never heard of before had on occasion lunched at the Sizzler's Man-Steak Buffet.

His name is seared, seared into my memory, or will be, once I find out what it is.

I haven't been this dejected since I found out George Michaels was gay and Nick Rhodes was straight.

Reports say that some of his parishoners began to become suspicious of his sexuality when they realized he looked like this:

(Okay, cheap joke, probably borderline homophobic, and on top of that, even Instapundit's made it already. But, come on. I'm not saying that some people "look gay." I would never say such a thing. No one "looks gay."

On the other hand, some people do "look Supra-Gay.")

Apparently he was outed by a gay prostitute whom he'd been paying for messages, with incidental gay sex and drugs included gratis.

I feel bad for this guy. I mean, an Evangelist preacher buying drugs and paying for sex from a gay hooker.

Sometimes disaster just seems to strike out of nowhere, doesn't it?

I wonder how people hold on to their faith when such unforeseeable tragedies befall them.

By the way... The Gay Hooker came forward with his allegations when he realized an Evangelist was against 1) ordaining gay preachers and 2) gay marriage.

You can imagine how important those issues are -- beconing a preacher, getting married -- to a Gay Hooker.

Update III: More.....

Jones said he had thought about revealing his alleged affair with Haggard months ago but was advised by his attorney that he needed to gather more evidence. He said he decided to come out with his story before the election to influence voters.

He fails a lie detector and won't take another one. Hmmm...... Could is be that the pastor was playing with the idea of doing a very bad thing? Or did he do parts of this -n- parts of that. Or, is the gay prostitute a big, fat liar? Having the pastor's message on the phone is bad enough and enough to cause a storm like this and no doubt the prostitute knew it. If political operatives had a hand in this, oh my goodness......

One of the church overseers says this:

"As Christians, we are never surprised at sin," Brendle said. "Ted has been a mentor and a good friend. I am commited to standing by him and his family. It is a sad time, but I am committed to serving New Life Church and our community. I believe with all my heart our best days are ahead."

Interestingly, those exposing all this, don't believe any of this is a sin.