| |
|
|
Sex scandal pastor blames abuse for wrongdoing (17.11.08)
Former US pastor Ted Haggard caught up in a gay sex scandal two years ago said his childhood sexual abuse was partly to blame.
Audio recordings from the American pastor’s sermons posted on the ABC News website had Haggard reveal his experience involving one of his father's employees "having a sexual experience with him when he was 7-years-old".
Haggard said he later became "a conservative Republican, loving the word of God, an evangelical, born-again, spirit-filled, charismatic, all those things.
"But some of the things that were buried in the depths of the sea from when I was in the second grade started to rage in my mind and in my heart," he said.
In 2006, Haggard was fired as pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs (US) when a former male prostitute alleged they had a cash-for-sex relationship. The man also said he saw Haggard use methamphetamine. Haggard also stepped down as president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
The former suicidal preacher who professes to have a stronger Christian faith and marriage than ever says church leaders missed an opportunity to use his scandal to "communicate the gospel worldwide through secular media."
"We consistently blow it" when those opportunities arise, he said.
|
|
Add a comment
|
Permalink
|
|
| | | |
| | | |
|
