Ted Haggard and How Evangelical Politics Helped End His Preaching Career
By: Les Herron
When the reports of Pastor Ted Haggard’s potential sexual downfall were first shouted from the rooftops of the mainstream media his religious friends (and others) pointed fingers at what was certainly political motivation.
And politics were certainly a part of the why’s and how’s of Haggard’s downfall but probably not in the way we first thought.
To be evangelical and/or charismatic we must be aligned with a specific political party and vote a certain way on each ‘important’ issue’, with importance being defined by someone in a ministry typically located outside of a local church ministry (para-church ministry).
It is not wrong that we vote in blocks; this is not a horrible thing and should probably be expected of individuals who are reading the same material and listening to the same arguments.
When the vote and the political party are chosen by each of us as individuals who have thought out the issues and sought God’s direction on them then it is a positive thing in the right direction. However, when it becomes a wholesale buy-in into what is right and wrong based upon what is coming through some of these para-church organizations then it becomes a thing of perversion.
Why? Because it stifles the conversations needed in order to solidify why we believe what we believe and it stops us from really digging into what the scriptures say about how to live the spiritual life within the political and practical realm.
We are not forced from the pulpit to believe all that the Republican Party believes but in a less vocal way we are told to keep quiet and accept what is being sold. We are not taught to engage in the social conversation of the nation but rather just the religious conversation within our own little religious ghetto.
The lack of the difficult yet necessary conversations is only part the problem. The other portion is when pastors and leaders of the church allow the para-church political ‘ministries’ to dominate the political conversation then it limits the preacher’s influence on politics, and therefore limits proper scriptural direction and instruction.
When this influence is given up by church leaders then they refrain from teaching such deep and Godly concepts of love and grace and peace in regards to those issues that are political. Why? Because the political conversation has already been set as one where the ‘win’ in politics is when we elect the right guy.
Haggard was able to have the ‘right’ conversation regarding same-sex marriages with powerful people who influence literally millions of people—thru electronic media, books, the local church, his affiliation and leadership of a huge evangelical group, and his influence of key people who had Washington’s ear.
However, Haggard was unable to have that personal conversation on the very same topic with even one or two friends. This conversation may begin with “I need to tell you a deep secret that I have…” and it may end with standing proverbially naked in front of those who oversee your life.
This is a huge issue within evangelical Christianity today. We are able to solve the problems of the nation and know what everyone else should do yet we cannot stand to look for one minute at the issues within us that are so damaging to our marriages, our children, and our life testimony.
We can conclude that making politics more important than our personal lives will eventually lead to spiritual decay and ultimately (possibly) distract us from our own heart issues.