First up from the God machine this week is one of the more striking religious controversies of last year: Ted Haggard and his humiliating fall from grace. This week, Haggard’s story took yet another embarrassing turn.
New Life Church said Tuesday that former pastor Ted Haggard has prematurely ended a “spiritual restoration” process begun when he was fired for sexual misconduct.
Haggard was fired from New Life Church and resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in November 2006 after a former male prostitute alleged they had a cash-for-sex relationship. The man also said he saw Haggard use methamphetamine.
Haggard confessed to undisclosed “sexual immorality” and said he bought meth but didn’t use it.
New Life said in a written statement that “the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and (New Life) maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry.”
The use of the word “incomplete” suggests Haggard, despite his counselors’ efforts, is apparently still gay. It’s almost as if “spiritual restoration” is some kind of unsatisfactory method for forcing people to change their sexual orientation.
Go figure.
Other items from the God Machine this week:
* The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has become the “first in the nation to put in place a comprehensive Internet donation system for its weekly collections. The goal was to generate consistent revenue and to cater to parishioners who have grown accustomed to paying their bills online.” The archdiocese’s stewardship director said younger parishioners sometimes don’t even have checkbooks: “So if you don’t provide an online option for them, all you’re going to get is whatever cash is in their pockets.” It’s too soon to say how lucrative this will prove to be, but several churches cited to a boost in Christmas donations.
* We haven’t had a real dust-up between the Vatican and the Jewish community in a while: “The revision of a contentious Good Friday prayer approved this week by Pope Benedict XVI could set back Jewish-Catholic relations, Conservative Judaism’s international assembly of rabbis says in a resolution to be voted on next week. The prayer calls for God to enlighten the hearts of Jews ‘so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, the savior of all men.’ The draft resolution states the prayer would ‘cast a harsh shadow over the spirit of mutual respect and collaboration that has marked these past four decades, making it more difficult for Jews to engage constructively in dialogue with Catholics.'”
* In an odd twist, Barack Obama’s denials about the Muslim e-mail smear have drawn rebukes from some parts of the Islamic community. They’re not mad about the lies, they’re mad because the candidate has gone to great lengths to distance himself from the lies.
* And a little something to consider before next year’s Super Bowl: “Sen. Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill this week that would allow houses of worship to show football games on big-screen televisions. The legislation was among a flurry of action taken this week as the result of an article Friday in The Washington Post reporting that churches were canceling Super Bowl parties out of fear of lawsuits from the NFL if they showed the game on jumbo TV screens…. Under Specter’s legislation, religious organizations that wish to show professional football games would be declared exempt.”