David Kuo: Why the Haggard Scandal Could Hurt Evangelical Turnout

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1554908,00.html

David Kuo, the former number two at the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives in the first Bush White House, is camped out on the NYT bestsellers list with his book, Tempting Faith, about the dangers of mixing politics and evangelicals. He says he met Ted Haggard only a few times, but says that the episode has saddened him nonetheless, especially the headline-grabbing fallout of Haggard's admissions.

"At the end of the day, this comes down to bringing Jesus into politics," he says. "Right now, it's not Ted Haggard on trial. It's Jesus. This is about the God he represents. When you make yourself a public figure and you fall, you bring the perception of your God with you."

"Jim Dobson's response was particularly telling," Kuo says of leading evangelical James Dobson. "He basically blamed the controversy on gays and Democrats. When evangelical leaders can't see beyond Tuesday on any question, what on earth is happening?"

Kuo says that the New Life Church was the starting place of many evangelical pastors who fanned out across the country, and Haggard was their mentor. Kuo's own church in the DC suburbs is led by former Haggard acolytes. This interconnectedness of so many congregations, along with Haggard's recently political bent, both amplify the effect of the scandal.

<snip>

Politically, Kuo sees a potential to reduce the evangelical vote on Tuesday. "I think the significance of the Haggard thing is this building case against evangelical involvement in politics. Christians are smart," he says. "They can see what influence politics is having."

[AtomicKitten]

1. the fly in the ointment

remains the gay marriage/stem cell measures purposely put on ballots in toss-up states to encourage the fundie wingnuts to come out and vote.

[eleny]

2. Kuo never crossed my mind these past few days

But this sure has been a one-two punch between Kuo and Haggard.

[williesgirl]

3. Hope he's right and they all go to church instead of voting! recommended

[TallahasseeGrannie]

4. I know that if my pastor dissed gays

from the pulpit and then this happened...

well, I wouldn't go to that church anymore, either. And I'd be very, very disillusioned.

But that's me. There's gonna be a whole lotta folks who say that Satan targets the clergy.

[babylonsister]

5. I wonder if Kuo ever thought that maybe everyone is too judgemental

about gay people? Maybe that thinking needs to be adjusted.:eyes:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

6. I'm with you, Kuo is basically preaching the good stuff, ala Jesus,

yet he toes the party line on sh** like this.

MKJ

edited for a comma. mkj

[leesa]

7. It's about time these so-called Christians started thinking about Jesus.

Haggard's church was the cesspool this vile new Christianity seemed to breed out of.

[Old and In the Way]

8. From what I've gleen of the new evangelicalism as done by Haggard,

it seems to have morphed religion into show business. And the pastors are actors on the stage. Really, it's not a stretch to me to see that it is religious show business with modern production values. Many gays (not to be branding them stereotypically), are creative people who gravitate to show business. I wonder if there will be a reactionary backlash to these types of show-biz churches by the more conservative (Dobson-type) wing of these religions? In which case, there may be a very devisive cleaving in what I've seen as a pretty monolythic brand of religion.