TWO Calls on Authorities to Investigate Ted Haggard’s Former Church, Says Hush Money Scandal Emerges From New Life’s Closet
NEW YORK, NY – Truth Wins Out (TWO) today called on Colorado officials to investigate New Life Church, after the Associated Press revealed that New Life paid money to keep a male volunteer from publicly disclosing a romantic affair with the church’s former minister Ted Haggard.
According to the AP, New Life’s current Senior Pastor, Brady Boyd, said that the church reached a legal settlement to pay the man for counseling and college tuition, with one condition being that none of the parties involved discuss the relationship publicly.
“Until conservative churches stop shaming gay people and learn to accept them, we will see more tawdry scandals,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “These calamities are a direct result of the closet.”
Rev. Boyd denied that New Life paid hush money and said, “Our desire was to help him. Here was a young man who wanted to get on with his life. We considered it more compassionate assistance — certainly not hush money.”
TWO called on Colorado officials to look into the matter.
“Authorities should investigate to ensure that this volunteer was not manipulated or coerced into silence,” said Besen. “The leadership of New Life has little credibility and should not simply be taken at their word. At a minimum, Boyd should resign for using his position of power to pressure a vulnerable member of his congregation into silence.”
In 2006, Denver escort Mike Jones disclosed that he and Haggard had a three-year relationship where money was exchanged for sex. Shortly after, Haggard stepped down from New Life. Next week, HBO will air a documentary on the rise and fall of Haggard. The disgraced minister will be promoting the show in media appearances throughout the week.
There is speculation that the HBO special spurred the volunteer to contact a Colorado Springs television station to discuss the situation.
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay lies. TWO also counters the so-called “ex-gay” industry and educates America about the lives of GLBT people.
Web: www.TruthWinsOut.org
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/two-calls-on-…
Episcopal conservatives win key battle over gays
(McLean, Virginia) Nearly a dozen conservative church congregations in Virginia have won a lawsuit in which they sought to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute over theology and homosexuality.
The final rulings came from a Fairfax County judge who said the departing …
Episcopal conservatives win key battle over gays
(McLean, Virginia) Nearly a dozen conservative church congregations in Virginia have won a lawsuit in which they sought to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute over theology and homosexuality.
The final rulings came from a Fairfax County judge who said the departing …
Conservatives Win Roun d Va. Court Case to Split From Episcopal Church – Appeal expected
A Fairfax County judge made the final rulings Friday. He said the departing congregations are allowed under Virginia law to keep their property as they leave the Episcopal Church and realign under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops from Africa.
The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia argued it was the true owner of the church property and that the congregations’ votes to leave the Episcopal Church were invalid.
The diocese said it will appeal the rulings.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/conservatives…
Gays, God, the Bible and the bishops
The wrangling over faith, homosexuality and Proposition 8, which overturned the legalization of gay marriage in California, is taking some interesting turns this week — all based in some way on how one reads the Bible.
Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony said in a letter to homosexuals in the weekly archdiocesan paper, The Tidings, that the Catholic Church’s vociferous support of the ballot initiative “does not diminish in any way (your) importance” nor “lessen your personal dignity and value as full members of the body of Christ.”
Mahony wrote:
We are saddened that some people who opposed Proposition 8 have employed hurtful and accusatory language, and even threatening actions, against those who voted for Proposition 8. This is most unfortunate since such strategies obscure the basic matter at issue: the preservation of the ordered relationship between man and woman created by God.
In a blog, LA Weekly wasn’t buying this, calling it “wacky double-speak.”
And the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and seven other dioceses announced they would ask their national denomination to retract its General Convention’s 2006 ban on the election of more gay or lesbian bishops. (The election of actively gay bishop Gene Robinson in 2003 was the rallying cry for a splinter group of about 10% of U.S. parishes to pull out of the Episcopal Church and form their own new conservative Church, the cornerstone of which is a literal reading of the Bible which they say forbids homosexual behavior.)
To make the point even sharper, Bishop of Los Angeles Jon Bruno announced a new policy on the Sacramental Blessing of Life-Long Covenants and included an official liturgy for the diocese — another step officially discouraged by the national denomination.
See Gays, God, the Bible and the bishops
USA Today -
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/gays-god-bibl…
