Family Values and Values Voters

The story is just beginning to unfold, but if true, the allegations against Rev. Ted Haggard, former head of the National Association of Evangelicals, have to leave so-called "values voters" reeling.

Ted Haggard has admitted to buying meth and supposedly throwing it away. And he has admitted to contacting his accuser, a gay male escort, for a "massage," but claims he never had sex with him.

The details of Haggard's involvement with Mike Jones will become clear in time. But we need to remember that Haggard -- as part of the Evangelical inner circle -- made regular (some have described weekly) conference calls to the White House to discuss policy issues (say, an anti-gay marriage Constitutional amendment?). He was one of the high and mighty determined to bring their version good old-fashioned family values to every household in America whether we wanted it or not. To protect us from the travesty of the gay lifestyle.

Every Sunday pastors of the religious right gather their flocks to preach not just from the good book, but from the dictates of the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, and other similar groups. These same preachers encourage their congregations to patronize certain shops, read certain books, watch (or boycott) certain television shows, attend particular rallies, and vote for certain candidates or initiatives because as a born-again, evangelical Christian it is the moral thing to do.

How does one continue to denigrate and discriminate against homosexuals when your leader consorts with "the enemy?" How can you rail against gays and gay marriage when one of your national leaders is on the "down low?" How do you follow someone so willing to cast the first stone against others for the very same "sin" he commits?

If your political convictions are controlled by someone whose moral predilections are suspect, what do you do? Just who do you vote for when your pastor is caught with his figurative (if not literal) pants down? Is this a case of do as I say, not as I do? How do you reconcile your belief in a pastor who says gays are immoral and won't go to heaven, when he is in an illicit gay relationship? How do you follow his orders to walk the "holier than thy neighbors" path, when he goes astray? If he has violated his own tenets, how do you trust opinions and dictates of others like him? What secrets are they hiding?

Religion and politics don't mix. Like oil and water, it is difficult to keep the suspension going. Religion is a personal, private matter (no matter how public we try to make it.) Politics is public business. If Ted Haggard didn't know that before, he knows it now.