To the disbelief of everyone -- straight and gay -- the Rev. Ted Haggard, former anti-gay megachurch pastor who was excommunicated for soliciting sex from a male prostitute, is starting a new church.
But this one won't blossom to be like the 14,000-member New Life Church he founded decades ago in Colorado Springs.
As a matter of-fact, Haggard's Amen Corner will gather Sundays, if at all, in his modest home, as he opens the doors of his new church to "everyone."
"Whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, gay, straight, bi, tall, short, addict, recovering addict... I believe Jesus' arms are open to all," Haggard told the Associated Press (AP).
But Haggard still hasn't dealt with his homosexuality.
Last year, the fallen evangelical star rose from public obscurity to tell us he's not gay. He's "heterosexual with issues." After a publicity junket promoting the HBO documentary, "The Trials of Ted Haggard," which landed him on Oprah and Larry King, Haggard stated on both shows that his has "sexual thoughts about men, but they're not compulsive any more."
First Haggard lied about being gay, and now he's lying about being "cured," so much so that even his Christian cohorts are not buying it.
So what's behind Haggard's tall tales?
Some view Haggard's move as egotistical.
"Why clerics who have been spectacularly ruined as he was don't just go sell life insurance, or something," wrote Rod Dreher, a blogger for Beliefnet. " I think religious leadership, like political leadership, must have particular appeal to narcissists."
Another view for Haggard's tall tales is the loss of clergy power he once enjoyed.
Excommunicated from the GOP inner sanctum and the Christian right's hallowed sanctuary, Haggard now hopes to regain the creature comforts he once had - a political platform, a bully pulpit, and heterosexual clergy privilege.
Haggard was president of the National Association of Evangelicals that Time magazine in 2005 listed Haggard as one of the top 25 most influential evangelicals in America.
Once a national bigwig, Haggard wielded influence on Capitol Hill as part of a cadre of men who participated in conservative Christian leadership conference calls with the White House when Bush was in office.
As a GOP insider Haggard was one of this nation's key advocates for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. After Massachusetts legalized marriage equality in 2004, Haggard along with others, began aggressively organizing state-by-state opposition that resulted in pushing Colorado's same-sex marriage ban for the 2006 ballot.
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Still another view for Haggard's tall tales is his internalized homophobia.
In his effort to convert gays to a life of Jesus, Haggard fronted a "conversion" ministry to frequent gay bars while inviting these lost souls not only to his congregation for worship, but also to his hotel suite for sex.
"I do believe I don't fit into the normal boxes," Haggard to AP. "I do think there are complexities associated with some people's sexuality, but it just wasn't as simple as I wanted it to be, because I was so deeply in love with my life." However, truth be told, Haggard is deeply in love with heterosexual privilege and homosexual sex.
Haggard repeatedly denied allegations about dalliances with gay men. He was shamed into confessing "his sexual immorality" when his gay male prostitute, Mike Jones, went public about their affair.
Haggard ranted and railed against gays, while privately living a different life, one on the down low in drug-fueled homosexual trysts for at least three years.
While on his publicity junket in 2009, new allegations of a homosexual relationship surfaced concerning Haggard. This time Haggard's former church got involved by paying the 20-year-old male church volunteer hush money to keep silent. In a settlement reached by the man's lawyer to not go public, the church provided the young man money to pay his college tuition, moving expenses and counseling.
Haggard said he traces his sexual struggles to allegedly being molested as a child.
Older evangelical Christians use homosexuality and sex scandals like Haggard's as a way to politicize their theological presence and control within the Republican Tea Party.
But younger evangelical Christians find the struggle Christian conservative churches are having with LGBTQ people a culture war they don't want to engage in because the emphasis is political rather than focused on "the ethic of Jesus." And fighting against same-sex marriage is not on the top of their list of social concerns for the country.
As a matter of fact, the top three social issues for this coming of age of evangelical Christians are the environment, children orphaned by AIDS, poverty and health care, all social issues they view as matters of faith and family values.
No lie lives forever. And no one should know this better than Rev. Ted Haggard. But Haggard's road to perdition is not about his sexual orientation; rather it is about the lies he'll preach in his new church of homophobia.
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