Is Ted Haggard the New Poster Boy for the Ex-gay Movement?

Looks like he may well be … In his letter that was read to his church on Sunday, Haggard-the disgraced former president of the National Association of Evangelicals who admitted to daliances and drug use with a male escort-said he had struggled with “repulsive and dark” impulses “all of my adult life.” As part of […]

Looks like he may well be …

In his letter that was read to his church on Sunday, Haggard-the disgraced former president of the National Association of Evangelicals who admitted to daliances and drug use with a male escort-said he had struggled with “repulsive and dark” impulses “all of my adult life.” As part of his treatment plan, he agreed to submit to the “oversight” of James Dobson and others for a “thorough analysis of my mental spiritual, emotional and physiucal life.” The goal, he says, is “healing and restoration of my life, my marriage and my family.”

But here’s the money quote:


Through the years I’ve sought assitsance in a variety of ways, with none of

them proving to be effective in me.”

Is that a reference to the ex-gay movement? Exodus, the biggest name in the ex-gay movement, seems to think so:

“No individual is excluded from the love and mercy of Christ. No individual should struggle alone in silence,” the group said in a statement.

On the other end of the spectrum, Soulforce-founded by former evangelical ghostwriter Mel White-says it is ready to “extend an olive branch of friendship and support when he is ready to fully come out as a gay man.” They may be waiting a while for that one:

“Dobson and the others will counsel him to bury, deny, and repress his sexuality even deeper than before. They will wound his spirit, and he is going to need our prayers and our compassionate message that God loves him, affirms him, and calls him to live his life openly with honesty and integrity.”

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