Evangelical Realism

We’ve all heard from certain evangelical leaders that “the gay lifestyle” is merely a personal—and sinful—choice, and that through prayer and the divine touch of almighty God, gays can be “cured” of making this choice. There’s just one problem with these so-called “restoration programs”: they don’t work.

The evangelist forced out of his job after being caught up in a sex scandal involving a male prostitute has left a “spiritual restoration program” and no longer has any ties to the megachurch he founded, the congregation’s new pastor said Sunday.

Under a severance deal that Ted Haggard reached with the church in 2006, he agreed to leave Colorado Springs and not talk about the scandal publicly. The deal expired at the end of 2007.

Now of course, under the rigged scoring system used by Christians, blame for this failure will be directed at Haggard himself. God is only held accountable for the successes. Meanwhile, gay Christians are saddled with the burden of doing whatever it takes to make it look like God is winning, even if it destroys them inside.

I don’t know where ex-pastor Haggard stands now, but the fact that he bailed out of this so-called “restoration” program a few years early is a hopeful sign. Maybe reality is starting to break through the hard shell of denial? If so, my sympathies go out to him. It’s neither an easy nor a comfortable process.