Dobson quits Haggard ‘counselling’ team at Bene Diction Blogs On

Dobson quits Haggard ‘counselling’ team

I promised myself I wouldn’t blog anymore about the sorry saga of Ted Haggard, a mega-church leader in Colorado who dominated most of last week’s news cycle after allegations about his conduct turned out to have merit.

But it just keeps getting wierder.

Citing a lack of time, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson withdrew Tuesday from the team overseeing counseling for the Rev. Ted Haggard, the evangelical pastor who was fired amid allegations of gay sex and drug use.

“Emotionally and spiritually, I wanted to be of help – but the reality is I don’t have the time to devote to such a critical responsibility,” Dobson said.

Haggard lead a 14 thousand member church until last week. He has been assigned a team of overseers.

I have my reservations about these overseer guys for a lot of reasons, and I am going to speculate for a second. I wonder if Dobson is getting out because he isn’t like what he is hearing and what may hit the proverbial fan. Dobson is smart enough to get out of Dodge and distance himself, and certainly for Haggard and his family I don’t see Dobson withdrawing as a bad thing.

I think Haggard and his family need serious, long term, safe, merciful, patient, skilled and well rounded professional help.

via: Adventus

Published 3 years, 4 months ago 2 comments

2 Responses to “Dobson quits Haggard ‘counselling’ team”

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1 Larry Cohler-Esses on Nov 10th, 2006 at 9:31 am

Were Christian right leaders covering up for Rev. Ted Haggard the way GOP congressional leadership is alleged to have done with Rep. Tom Foley? See Rev. Louis Sheldon’s dislosure in The Jewish Week of New York’s post-election report on the Evangelical right:

http://thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=13253

Relevant section also highlighted in the blog “Jspot” (jspot.org), pasted below:

Evangelicals Knew Rev. Ted Haggard Was Gay?!?
by Mik Moore
November 9th, 2006

This nugget slipped into Larry Cohler-Esses’ article this week:

Then, as if things could not get worse, there was the disgrace of Sheldon’s own friend and colleague, Rev. Ted Haggard, the Colorado mega-church leader and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an even bigger pillar of Republican support on the Christian right. Sheldon disclosed that he and “a lot” of others knew about Haggard’s homosexuality “for awhile … but we weren’t sure just how to deal with it.”

Months before a male prostitute publicly revealed Haggard’s secret relationship with him, and the reverend’s drug use as well, “Ted and I had a discussion,” explained Sheldon, who said Haggard gave him a telltale signal then: “He said homosexuality is genetic. I said, no it isn’t. But I just knew he was covering up. They need to say that.”

Sheldon insisted that being in opposition in the House “will be a huge energizing factor for us” as politics shifts toward the selection of a presidential nominee for 2008.

I haven’t been following this issue so closely, but is this news to anyone else?
2 Bene Diction on Nov 10th, 2006 at 10:42 am

Ironic.
Lou Sheldon (Lucky Louie) is known for the Abramoff scandal, his homophobia, and relationships with other dominionist groups, creationism, and anti hate speech legislation lobbying. His 2004 film with Trent Lott, his association with Santorum…

Thanks for the link, interesting article, I hadn’t heard this.
I suspect Mr. Sheldon wants some media time, an opportunity to lick political wounds and re-position himself.
I don’t think the religious right is out of the game and I’m curious as to why (given his rampant homophobia) Sheldon hints at suspecting drug use in personal conversations with Haggard.
This is the key gossip graph, isn’t it?

“Sheldon disclosed that he and “a lot” of others knew about Haggard’s homosexuality “for awhile … but we weren’t sure just how to deal with it.”