Harper's Magazine article about Haggard and New Life Church:

[Turn CO Blue]

Soldiers of Christ
<http://www.harpers.org/SoldiersOfChrist.html>

...snip...
The press tends to regard Dobson as the most powerful evangelical Christian in America, but Pastor Ted is at least his equal. Whereas Dobson plays the part of national scold, promising to destroy politicians who defy the Bible, Pastor Ted quietly guides those politicians through the ritual of acquiescence required to save face. He doesn't strut, like Dobson; he gushes. When Bush invited him to the Oval Office to discuss policy with seven other chieftains of the Christian right in late 2003, Pastor Ted regaled his whole congregation with the story via email. “Well, on Monday I was in the World Prayer Center”—New Life's high-tech, twenty-four-hour-a-day prayer chapel —“and my cell phone rang.” It was a presidential aide; “the President,” says Pastor Ted, wanted him on hand for the signing of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Pastor Ted was on a plane the next morning and in the President's office the following afternoon. “It was incredible,” wrote Pastor Ted. He left it to the press to note that Dobson wasn't there.

more at link...

(Note: This article was originally from May 2005 but was re-posted TODAY HA HA HA!

[yorkiemommie1]

1. That article scared the hell out of me

when I first read it. Scary people!

[Turn CO Blue]

2. Absolutely frightening - how can these nuts have so much sway?

[jesus_of_suburbia]

4. Did you see the mentions of homosexuality in the article?

"Pastor Ted soon began upsetting the devil's plans. He staked out gay bars, inviting men to come to his church; his whole congregation pitched itself into invisible battles with demonic forces, sometimes in front of public buildings"

There is also a lady from his congegation who says she has seen the demons who cause someone to be gay! (funny to me that she couldn't see the demon in him, lol)


This article is great!

[Erika]

3. How many of our taxpayer $ was given to this man

through faith based programs? Pastor Ted was a close "Christian advisor" to W. W always rewards his friends.

I will request an answer from my congressional delegation.

[AnnInLa]

5. What did Pastor Ted say to the male escort?

"Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."

(not original, read it somewhere.)

[Erika]

7. LMAO n/t

[rockymountaindem]

6. This article is more than a little hyperbolic

I went to high school not 15 minutes from New Life. A fair number of my classmates' parents worked for Focus or the church. But, for every evangelical, there were three Mormons (who the evangelicals view as their foe), stoners, emo kids or jocks who didn't really believe in anything. Then there was me, "the" Jew.

Contrary to what that article says, Haggard is not the all-seeing lord of Colorado Springs. Yes, Dobson is more powerful than "Pastor Ted". No, there is no water pollution in the city itself, and the air is in fact relatively clean. It's not as paradoxical as one might think. And as much as Ted, Dobson et. al. would like you to believe, Colorado Springs is not a city straight out of Leave it to Beaver. It's just like any other place, really.

Don't believe the hype.

[Turn CO Blue]

8. Well, you know how it is...those of us farther north see the Spgs

as a hotbed of fundies. It's not fair of course, but when I grew up in Ft. Worth, Texas, we had definite viewpoints about Houston, Dallas and Austin, and about all the people who lived there.

[rockymountaindem]

9. After reading more, this is kind of scary

About how Catholics are lazy and only look toward the past and haven't contributed anything. Yeah, like Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Copernicus, all the explorers of Portugal and Spain... what an idiot. Oh, and his biggest fear is supposedly that his sons will grow up in an Islamic state. The only way that could happen is if they moved to Iran or Saudi Arabia.

The wierdest part is every time he talks about a spot in Colorado Springs, the first thing in my mind is "I know where that is!" "I eat there all the time!" Well, for all its flaws, Colorado Springs is my hometown, and no matter where I roam, even if I die on Mars someday, I will always be connected to it. Wierd, eh?