Ted Who?
John at Locusts and Honey links to an interesting post on Evangelical Outpost that refers to the scandal with Ted Haggard in a dismissive way. Now I would agree that any claim that the Haggard scandal would keep evangelicals home is almost by definition exaggerated.
On the other hand, I think such a scandal does tend to erode support for the moral position involved. Ted Haggard campaigned against gay marriage and then is caught in behavior he has condemned. That’s hypocrisy, and it’s bound to erode some support on his issues. But the political tendency is to spin things before the election. And I want to make it clear that from my persepctive, the hypocrisy is the major sin here.
I’ve got to say that I’ve found it pretty funny to watch evangelicals pretend Haggard is a minor character. I’m not even an evangelical, and I know him pretty well.
I don’t know, maybe it’s kind of an inside baseball thing, because I never heard of him. I know Dobson, LaHaye, Osteen, Baxter and a handful of others, (by “know” I don’t mean approve of, just heard of and familiar with their ministry) but just never heard of Haggard until all this started. Nor did most of my friends from church. We’re a Sovereign Grace church (reformed Charismatic) – maybe Haggard is more well known with Baptists?
This has been an interesting case for me. I have read some considerable material by Haggard and had some respect for him, despite our obvious disagreements.
It may be that more of my contacts are academic and thus more likely to know of him.