Oooops, He's Gay!

The recent revelations that Evangelical Fundamentalist Ted Haggard had gay, drug-fueled sex with a male prostitute over the span of three years doesn't come as any surprise to me.

How many times have we seen ultra-pious, self-righteous men "of faith" turn out to be hypocrites?

As I've noted before, it's becoming a well-worn principle that the more extreme and intolerant a person seems, the more likely that they in some way embody the traits they rail against. If a person is rabidly anti-gay, they probably have difficulties or insecurities with their own urges. If a person can't tolerate the philosophical views of others, they probably have insecurities with their own rigid beliefs.

And how can a person not be insecure about Fundamentalist beliefs? It's tough to hang on to a worldview that is fundamentally divisive, arrogant, intolerant and judgemental, based on a book of myths and fables written in a vastly different era. Best to congregate only with people who share your radical, illogical views.

Which is a recipe for disaster. Both the violent disasters of crusades, jihads and witch trials, as well as the personal disasters that occur when imperfect people pretend to be perfect and pass judgment on everybody else, as Haggard did.

It's not shocking, but it's tragic.