50 replies to this topic

[MJLO]

I had to post this somewhere, this was the best place I could think.

Tom Haggard, is completely heterosexual?

I don't claim to be an expert on sexuality, but this is the guy who was in charge of a giant CS church right?  He was outed by a male escort he had been seeing for a few years.  The leadership of the church are now saying that he's completely Heterosexual.  I say YEAH RIGHT.  This is what I call saving face.  So was this dude just going thru an "experimentation phase" late in life?  It's a thing I really don't like about the overall evangelical side of Christianity, they demonize homoseuxality, while turning a blind eye to the rest of the sexual deviants even within their own midsts.  I'm not going to get to deep into it, but I wonder how many people actually believe this.

[Front_Range_Guy]

MJLO, on Feb 7 2007, 11:24 AM, said:

I had to post this somewhere, this was the best place I could think.

Tom Haggard, is completely heterosexual?

I don't claim to be an expert on sexuality, but this is the guy who was in charge of a giant CS church right?  He was outed by a male escort he had been seeing for a few years.  The leadership of the church are now saying that he's completely Heterosexual.  I say YEAH RIGHT.  This is what I call saving face.  So was this dude just going thru an "experimentation phase" late in life?  It's a thing I really don't like about the overall evangelical side of Christianity, they demonize homoseuxality, while turning a blind eye to the rest of the sexual deviants even within their own midsts.  I'm not going to get to deep into it, but I wonder how many people actually believe this.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

  I would imagine most of New Life's 14,000 members believe it.  As for me, I agree with you. You are what you are, and you can't change it... Haggard is either Bi-Sexual or Gay, alway's has been, and alway's will be. He loathes himself because society has taught him to, it's sad... but I don't feel bad for him because he has been a part of the problem, spewing the evangelical poison and ruining Colorado Springs for the last 20 years. Mike Jones outing Haggard was the second best thing that could happen to this town, second only to focus on the family moving out of town. Jobs be d*mned. The Ted Haggard story is the ultimate story of hippocracy, irony bit him in the ass and he absolutely deserved it.

[MJLO]

wow F_R_G you sound a little passionate about the issue.  Is it a sore spot in CS?

[Front_Range_Guy]

I think so. Even if you're not a part of the evangelical movement in Colorado Springs, it affects you. Obviously if you are a part of the movement, this is a sore spot. If you're a member of the gay community, or the liberal community, or even just the moderate community, the entire issue is a giant sore spot, especially if like me, you feel the evangelicals have ruined Colorado Springs' good name and prevented it from reaching it's potential up to this point. I would venture there is a huge amount of people in Colorado Springs who don't particularly care about Haggard, but everyone has an opinion on the larger issues that surround the scandal. The evangelicals have way too much power in this country, and especially in this city... and what that means and may mean for the future doesn't set well for a lot of people... and infact bringing the issue full circle, back to the point of the existence of this website, Evangelicals/Republicans (Which here = the same thing) prefer to live in suburban sprawl, shop in big box stores, and drive SUV's. The urbanist community here, like the gay community is tight knit and very strong, very determined, but it's an uphill battle here...

  I hate to sound like I'm pushing a website, but I've never seen any sort of publication really "get" Colorado Springs the way Newspeak does. I think you get the idea that regardless of your walk of life, the evangelical movement affects you if you live here. Granted this site comes from a perspective I relate to, and it's clearly and intentionally biased... but there is still some good material.

Anther Haggard/NLC update
And...

  This quote from the Newspeak article linked above pretty much say's it all...

Quote

SC: One thing that's been really revelatory to us is just the amount of crap going down in Colorado Springs ALL THE TIME, and on so many fronts. Whenever we do something like this we try to find dynamic and interesting people who are leading dynamic and interesting lives and you have to dig around a bit. But in Colorado Springs you just walk out the door. I think it's because the social environment and that so many things are brought to the the surface and the fronts where these various communities rub up against each other are really heightened and intensified. So everyone, Christian or not, is sort of involved in the question in a way that … like everyone here had to deal personally with the fall of Ted Haggard. So something that we would take for granted, like being a high school student who doesn't believe in God, is a very intense experience here. We've been overwhelmed by the vast amount of material we've collected so far.

Edited by Front_Range_Guy, 08 February 2007 - 04:03 AM.

[MJLO]

Holy cow that really is a hot button issue.  

I personally consider myself a "true liberal" in the sense, that even if I don't agree with someone elses position, I'll still recognize it.  Different people, believe different things, for different reasons, and under different circumstances.  It's that diversity that really makes humans unique.  What I dislike about the far right, is what I dislike about the far left, they all tend to polarize, and demonize those who do things or view things that they percieve as wrong.  

I tend not to like living in areas, with large concentrations of certain beliefs, Like CS and the evangelical movement.  I would not enjoy the whole self-righteous nature of it.  As much as I dislike the LDS leaning and inflated environment of Mesa.  That's not to say that i'd like living in a place like San Francisco, with the pinko commies running around everywhere either   lol

[MJLO]

Yet another article on it, this one from the guy who outed him:

Jones doubts Haggard’s restoration

I'm not gonna quote the article, it's a little racey, but it basically echos your sentiments.

[Front_Range_Guy]

... and I think Colorado Springs is a very polarizing place to live. When I was younger and didn't pay much attention, I had a very live and let live attitude... but the more involved you become, the more you are almost forced to take sides. The two sides feel like they are forced into taking the extreme position of whichever side they are on in reaction to something the other side has done or said.

  That said, from a sociological standpoint, it's a very fascinating place to live...  and even with the large evangelical population, it's not that bad. I hear members of the gay community in Denver for example say how scared they are of Colorado Springs... in reality, the worst that's going to happen to you is you might... MIGHT get told you are going to hell... I can't think of a single instance of anti-gay violence in this town at least in the last 10 years. I'm alway's fascinated by the number of gay christians I meet here. I don't know how they reconcile it, but they do.

  Of course to accept that Colorado Springs isn't that bad of a place, you have to accept that evangelicals are not ignorant, hate spewing monsters. They really aren't... I do believe many of their belief systems are very destructive and do nothing to advance society, but I don't think they are intentionally coming from a place of hate when chosing their faith.

Edited by Front_Range_Guy, 08 February 2007 - 03:02 PM.

[Front_Range_Guy]

I totally went and bought tickets to "Save This City" LOL. Man, the Fine Arts Center expansion and Cornerstone Arts Center are making a huge impact already. I will need to get new pictures very soon.

  Anyhow... the reviews coming insuggest the musical may offer another stereotypical, shallow portrayal of Colorado Springs... even so, it's something to do on a Saturday night.

Edited by Front_Range_Guy, 09 February 2007 - 02:43 PM.

[MJLO]

wait, what is the this thing about?

[Front_Range_Guy]

LOL... it was last Saturday Night. It was a pretty good show. Basically this theatere company partnered with Colorado College's theatere program. They interviewed 100 people in Colorado Springs, and based on those interviews, wrote the musical. It ended up being about how different people from different backgrounds view and relate to the evangelical movement in Colorado Springs. There was a lot of reference to Ted Haggard and another pastor who came out and left his church around that time, Troy Reynolds. They actually interviewed one of Haggard's sons as well as Reynolds. The show included New Lifer's, Christians from other churches, Non-christians, Pagans, Transexuals, Gay's and Lesbians, and more. It was a pretty entertaining look at the various communities in Colorado Springs and how they've been impacted by the evangelicals, New Life Church in particular.

Edited by Front_Range_Guy, 17 February 2007 - 10:51 AM.

[timbucktuna]

anybody seen these around downtown?  is that a potato!?

[Front_Range_Guy]

LMFAO wtf? I haven't seen those. I did notice a bunch of new graffiti along Tejon though on planters and in business entry way's when I was downtown Thursday. I'm sure much of it has been cleaned up. Much of it was illegible but it seems like a lot of it said "SEPH."

[MJLO]

is there something in the water there? LOL

[Front_Range_Guy]

  Looks like you're not the only one who noticed some interesting art around downtown this past week Timbucktuna.

[MJLO]

wow, that's so interesting.  So someone is just randomly leaving these things around the downtown area?

[Front_Range_Guy]

As far as I know yeah... this is a very odd little town.

[timbucktuna]

a ape?

[MJLO]

I read today, that new life church place is laying off 44 workers, because it's revenue is down.  Did you know that Ted Haggard was making about 130k a year as leader of that church?  I didn't know it payed so well to be a man of god, but at least now we know how he afforded all that meth, and those male prostitutes.

[colin]

You so nasty!
Yeah, the word "mega" isn't in "mega-church" just in reference to the membership: they also pull in the mega-bucks. The ones on TV make even more.

Why can't we get grafitti like that everywhere? Actual artistic endeavors and not just some punk b*tch trying to show off that he can spraypaint a bridge.

[convulso]

my apartment view in auburn is nothing but decent graffiti on the roof / facade walls of a neighboring building across the alleyway. kinda like it.

http://www.urbanplan...showtopic=28646

there're a couple of photos somewhere in there. there's more graffitti than that; that's just what i can see without getting out on the balcony.

Edited by convulso, 06 March 2007 - 04:53 AM.