Ted Haggard's Back, He's "Completely Hetero" and He's Begging for Cash

Posted by Pam Spaulding at 1:00 PM on August 24, 2007.

This post, written by Pam Spaulding, originally appeared on Pam's House Blend

Good grief. Asking for a handout as his $138K paycheck from his former church is cut off after the end of the year. From Colorado Confidential, "Ted Haggard's Cash-for-Heaven Offer:"

If you haven't had enough of the Haggard/New Life Church saga, this week KRDO Channel 13 in Colorado Springs aired a story about a letter that Haggard sent to consumer reporter Tak Landrock, letting him know of the Haggard family plans to move into the Phoenix Dream Center to minister to ex-cons, recovering alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, and "other broken people," Haggard writes. "I identify."

Baaron Pittenger, assistant news director of the ABC affiliate, says that Landrock has been communicating with the fallen former pastor of New Life Church via e-mail. The station broadcast the story about Haggard's new life and request for donations on the 10 p.m. news last night. Pittenger says he's not aware that there's been much response to the story.

...Haggard, the charismatic former head of the National Association of Evangelicals, was fired last Nov. 4 from the 14,000-member New Life Church that he founded after he admitted buying meth and getting massages from a male escort. After three weeks of intensive "restoration" therapy, Haggard claimed he was "completely heterosexual"; he and his family subsequently moved to Arizona.

He and his wife are moving to a halfway house in Phoenix where Ted, in his letter to Landrock, says he is "willing to counsel some of the men and to teach the group from time to time. The woman directing the ministry to women invited Gayle to teach and minister to the women."

A snippet of the shameless fundraising pitch sent to Landrock:

It looks as though it will take two years for us to have adequate earning power again, so we are looking for people who will help us monthly for two years. During that time we will continue as full time students, and then, when I graduate, we won't need outside support any longer.

...Thank you so much. We feel our move into the Dream Center is the next step God would have us take. Any help we can get with this will be greatly appreciated and, I believe, rewarded in heaven.

As Bloggernista said:

It takes some serious gaul to get busted for buying drugs, cheating on your wife with a male hooker all while preaching family values and anti-gay rhetoric from the pulpit and then come back after a mere three weeks in therapy to claim that you are now "completely heterosexual" and continue to ask others to support you through religious contributions.

Tagged as: christians, haggard, homosexuality, religious conservatives, religious right

Pam Spaulding blogs at Pam's House Blend.