Trials of Ted Haggard
2009-01-24 23:15:03.488089+00 by
Dan Lyke
3 comments
A short article on the HBO documentary 'Trials of Ted Haggard', shot by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of Nancy Pelosi, and who had previously filmed a documentary on evangelical preachers called "Friends of God". She apparently brings an SF Bay perspective to the whole thing:
"He's battling his inner demons and he went through publicly what lots of Americans go through privately," Pelosi said. "Maybe not in San Francisco. You can be out and happy there in San Francisco. But not in a lot of other places in America where sexuality is a big thing."
One other line from the article, that apparently also appears in the film, is the realization that Ted Haggard has just come from a 12,000 person church, and Alexandra Pelosi and her husband are the two people who turn out to help him move.
Sounds interesting.
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Religion Bay Area California Culture Marriage
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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2009-01-26 14:13:33.898254+00 by:
Mark A. Hershberger
And part of me wonders if Pelosi's sympathy for Haggard doesn't let him get away without critical examination. It is odd that no one from the church showed up to help him move but, then, they're human and he had betrayed them.
Also interesting: the article portrays him as hard-up, but evidently he still owns his $750,000 house and he got a years worth of severance pay. "How the mighty have fallen" yes, but then he still seems to have resources. Including an HBO documentary to keep his name in the news.
#Comment Re: made: 2009-01-26 17:47:17.071343+00 by:
Dan Lyke
Mark, as I thought about this further I think that no members of his church showed up tells a lot about the relationship he had with them. We can tolerate flaws in a peer, but he was somewhere closer to a vendor, and when a Wal*Mart goes out of business we don't show up to help them move.
So, yeah, I think it's hard to overestimate just how much he betrayed his congregation.
#Comment Re: made: 2009-01-27 02:33:00.372212+00 by:
Mark A. Hershberger
Exactly, he was, as you say, a vendor, not a peer. He was his church's celebrity. How could he not be in a organisation that size?