On Point: The real Ted Haggard

Published November 7, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More Opinion Columns & Blogs

Here's what I still want to know about Ted Haggard: Before his downfall last week, was he an anguished sinner, as he now maintains, or merely a calculating pleasure seeker?

Was he kicking himself for his weaknesses or laughing at a world full of chumps?

Was he sorry all along for risking his family and ministry on sordid self-indulgence? Or was he - is he - a man without a rudder, a master of the universe who rejects all boundaries?

We know what Haggard wrote to his congregation: that he'd been "warring against (his dark side) all of my adult life," that "the public person I was wasn't a lie; it was just incomplete."

Probably so - but then what else would a man in his shoes say? The board of New Life Church certainly isn't taking Haggard entirely at his word. "He is not in touch with truth and reality, and he readily admitted that," said the Rev. Larry Stockstill, who is heading a thorough probe into Haggard's affairs.

After all, if a man of Haggard's stature would take such astonishing risks involving sex and drugs with bodybuilder/prostitute Michael Forest Jones, what other adventures are crouching behind his door? Just how comprehensive was Haggard's self-confessed deception?

Not that the answer will alter this episode's deeper lessons: Man is a fallen creature; perfection is unattainable; forgiveness is essential. But since Haggard will command a footnote in any record of this era's evangelical movement, it would be helpful at least for historians to know how he should be appraised: as the man he now says he was, racked with contradictions, or as a primping egoist who deep down never gave a hoot about much of anything but himself.

The effect on Amendment 43

Among the many mysteries of the Haggard scandal is why anyone thinks it might damage the prospects of Amendment 43, which would bar gay marriage and which Haggard supported.

Wouldn't any influence on the election trend in the opposite direction? After all, Haggard's paid partner, Jones, is hardly a poster boy for mainstream values or long-term commitment. He's just about the last gay person 43's opponents should want dominating the news as people go to vote.

True, Haggard is a hypocrite regarding homosexual sex, which proves . . . what? Which Coloradans poised to vote on Amendment 43 were surprised to hear that a prominent man isn't always true to his professed beliefs?

An argument doesn't depend upon the sincerity of the speaker. It is either good or bad in its own right. When a hypocrite is exposed, it merely means that he can't be taken seriously on the matter, not that his thesis is undone.

Suspect lie-detector tests

According to a News report, church leaders "plan polygraphs, psychological evaluations and thorough reviews of (Haggard's) computer, accounts and other records."

Polygraphs? Don't they see any irony in relying upon the same flawed instrument that just last week told the world that Jones was lying about his trysts with Haggard?

A few years ago, the U.S. Energy Department commissioned an independent study of polygraphs after a notorious failure of lie-detector tests at one of its labs. The Washington Post in 2002 described the findings: "Polygraph tests are ineffective in catching spies and have probably tarred thousands of innocent government employees and applicants with unwarranted suspicion, a top scientific panel has concluded."

A press release at the time from the National Academies explained that although "lie-detector tests can differentiate lying from telling the truth at rates well above chance" when investigating "specific, known events such as crimes," even for that limited purpose "they are far from perfect" and suffer from a "weak science base."

Jones should never have taken a polygraph test. And New Life leaders shouldn't waste their money on them, either.

A likely story, twice over

"I didn't want to ruin his life or his family's life," Jones insisted last weekend after learning that Haggard had been fired as pastor of his church.

And if you believe that, you probably also believe Haggard when he says he bought methamphetamine but never used it.

Vincent Carroll, editor of the editorial pages, writes On Point several times a week. Reach him at carrollv@RockyMountainNews.com.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News