Monday, November 6, 2006

SCANDAL OVERLOAD

The newest “gay” scandal.

 

Please go here first.

 

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/ousted-evangelist-confesses-to/20061102182309990027

 

And before we get into this, I have always had a problem with the whole Mega church phenomenon. There is something inherently strange about belonging to a church that has far more members than the town I grew up in. Especially churches that put larger than life size pictures of the pastor in the hallway outside what appears to be the sanctuary. What the ?????????????????????

 

Someone posting on the boards wanted to know why the media was all over this individual like a swarm of flies on rotten meat. (My image, not theirs)

 

I think this is the posting that started that thread, but it’s hard to tell.

 

All I have to say is JIM MCGREEVEY!!!!!

I don't understand why the news media gets such pleasure about finding out who is gay and who is not. What is the big deal? These things should be kept under the rug and not brought into the public light. The liberals and news feel that everyone's personal life is everyone elses business. They are so wrong.

 

Altogether now, repeat after me “Bill Clinton.” Certain conservatives thought his private business was their business and held up the public’s business for nearly a year while they put him under an electron microscope. What’s sauce for the goose and all that.

 

That said, this was my posting on that thread. Mine’s in bold.

 

Because the sharks smell the blood in the water and the feeding frenzy is on. We've got a scandal to drool over. It wouldn't matter if the people involved were gay, het, bi, or into multiples as long as it gets ratings and it sells advertising.

 

At this point I think the prophet from Nazareth would be looking for a good old fashioned walking stick and getting ready to clean out the forecourt of the temple. Again. It never ends does it? There's enough blame to go around for all of us.

 

I suspect his targets now would be similar to the good men of business who had turned the temple courtyard into a refuge for shysters and cheats. When he's not shaking his head and thinking "Dad told me there would be days like this."

 

It’s so tragic when these things happen. Just some thoughts on the whole mess. We don’t come in discrete heights, weights or skin colors. Is just possible that we have a range in sexuality that goes from totally heterosexual to strongly same sex? I suspect that the folks who end up towards the middle can swing either way and get through their lives on a fairly even keel. This could account for those who go through the “treatments” that claim they can “cure” homosexuality.

 

The reverend Haggard isn’t the first person following a conservative religious life style to try to hide a fundamental piece of their identity. And what were the results?  Personal humiliation for himself. Scandal for his family. Another bloody media feeding frenzy. Accusations and counter accusations that are starting to border on the absurd. Suspicion on one side that it’s all a set up. Certainty on the other that one strand of Christianity is the whole knitting project and it’s all unraveling or full of holes. And in the mean time, so much else that needs our attention goes totally ignored.

 

And the problem isn't gay sex or non gay sex. I just realized that I haven't seen any postings that really go to the heart of it. When people choose to spend their lives together in that special bond that marriage is, they make promises. They make promises to themselves and to that very, very special person who will be sharing their lives. He broke his promises. If you can break that promise what other promises will you break?

 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes it is hard to tell whether one is watching the 6 o'clock news or a soap opera.

Anonymous said...

Cynthia blogged about this guy today... and these are the comments I made on her j.  She had a link to an article that seemed to promote forgiveness and all that crap for this guy.  Personally I am mad as hell at this a**hole and his church members.  I think they are a bunch of hypocritical jerks.  And I really, really wish they would get their just desserts here.  Anyway, what I said on Cynthia's blog:

"I have to say, I was not familiar with Ted Haggard until all this came to light. But the very fact that this man has been an outspoken opponent of gay rights and homosexuality in general, and it turns out that he has been engaging in the very behavior he so publicly condemns, makes my blood boil. It makes me want to puke that all the members of his church are now saying, "Oh, we will pray for him!" and "Now is the time for the evangelical community to show just how merciful and forgiving it can be!" Funny how open-minded and forgiving people can suddenly become when they find out that they themselves are human.

But ask them how they feel about homosexuality now. Their minds will not have changed. A pox on all of them! "

And then I followed the link and read the article, and came back with this:

"Okay...I went and read the article. And my feeling is not that we need to have avenues that allow religious leaders to BE human. We need to have religious leaders who realize they ARE human. Not above everyone else. Not sinless. Not holier-than-thou. Which means that we need an evangelical environment that is not so quick to untterly damn some aspect of human behavior (such as homosexuality) that the behavior becomes unspeakable.

"I guess I'm trying to say they made their own bed, and now they have to lie in it."

Lisa  :-P

Anonymous said...

It's not so much a "gay" scandal as much as it is a "asshole" scandal.  That's my opinion anyway.  Evangelicals and republiCONs are responsible for shaming homosexuals to the point that gay people must deny themselves and hide who they are.  It's just so delicious when they are one in the same.  Maybe Foley and the Reverend will start dating.

;)

Russ