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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Noel de Leon who wrote (207705)	11/4/2006 8:05:33 PM
From: geode00	Respond to of 281500

Rev. Ted Haggard Quits Church After Probe Cites 'Sexually Immoral Conduct' Saturday , November 04, 2006 AP COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Rev. Ted Haggard was forced out Saturday as leader of the megachurch he founded after a board determined the influential evangelist had committed "sexually immoral conduct," the church said. Haggard had resigned two days earlier as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, where he held sway in Washington and condemned homosexuality, after a Denver man named Mike Jones claimed to have had drug-fueled trysts with him. "Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct," the New Life Church's Overseer Board said in a statement. Click Here to Read the New Life Church Statement on Rev. Ted Haggard. The Rev. Mike Ware of Victory Church in Westminster, a member of the independent board, declined to characterize what investigators found. Haggard did not answer his home or mobile phones Saturday, and neither phone was accepting messages. Jones did not return a phone message seeking comment. Ware said Haggard accepted the board's decision because he "understands the process and submitted to authority." "We have to be completely unbiased. We have to leave out personal feelings," Ware said. Haggard on Friday acknowledged paying Jones for a massage and for methamphetamine, but said he did not have sex with him and did not take the drug. The church's statement said the investigation would continue, to determine how extensive Haggard's misconduct was. The Rev. Ross Parsley will lead the church until a permanent replacement for Haggard is chosen by the end of the year, the statement said. A letter explaining Haggard's removal and an apology from him will be read at Sunday services. "The language of our church bylaws state that as Overseers we must decide in cases where the Senior Pastor has 'demonstrated immoral conduct' whether we must 'remove the pastor from his position or discipline him in anyway they deem necessary,"' the statement said. James Groesbeck, a church elder, said he was glad the investigative board acted quickly. "I'm saddened by what came out, but I think they've done their job," Groesbeck said by telephone. Church members are drawing strength from one another and are caught up in the activity, but that likely will change, he said. "I think it's going to be really difficult in a week or two," Groesbeck said. Jones, who said he is gay, said he was upset when he discovered who Haggard was and found out that the New Life Church had publicly opposed same-sex marriage — a key issue in Colorado, with a pair of issues on Tuesday's ballot. "It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex," Jones said. Mel White, executive director of Soulforce, a national interfaith organization that supports gay rights, acknowledged the personal tragedy for the Haggards. White, who ghost-wrote the Rev. Jerry Falwell's autobiography before White announced his homosexuality, said such Christian leaders as Haggard and Focus on the Family's James Dobson have hurt "literally millions" of people afraid to accept being gay. "He's been a major source of misinformation. Now he could become a major source of information," White said of Haggard. Soulforce has staged protests at the Focus on the Family complex in Colorado Springs. Jones also said Haggard snorted methamphetamine before their sexual encounters to heighten his experience. Haggard told reporters he bought meth but never used it; he said he received a massage from Jones after being referred to him by a Denver hotel. Jones said that no hotel referred Haggard and that he advertises only in gay publications. In a TV interview this week, Haggard said: "Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife." Matt O'Connor, 21, a member of New Life Church for 12 years, said Saturday that he knew weathering the fallout was going to be bad, but that "we're still a church, and we are not going to fall apart." "We all hoped that they were all lies," said church member Christine Rayes, 47. "We all have to move forward now. This doesn't make what Ted accomplished here any less. The farther up you are, the more you are a target for Satan."

To: Noel de Leon who wrote (207705)	11/4/2006 9:03:08 PM
From: GPS Info	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

The genetic explanation might be hampered by a genetic xenophobia. I don’t think so; I think that there is genetic xenophobia because we could not trust the other tribes to behave “ethically” – that is with the same value set as the group in question. I believe that (some) religions were meant to increase the concept of the “group” so that the group would become larger and larger: inclusion rather than exclusion. In my mind, this is also the concept of an expanding civilization that then includes the idea of “Western Europe” and then a set of “United Nations.”