"Haggard was no Saint"

Much has been written about Ted Haggard's fall from grace and his path to restoration, though many of us question his chosen path. Today in the LA Times, Stephanie Simon, writes about the New Life Church's discoveries as it has gone back to see if there were signs of trouble. Usually there are, even if missed, and indeed there were.

Not one suspected that their high-profile pastor, the Rev. Ted Haggard, had been secretly visiting a male prostitute. But they see now what they should have seen then: that Haggard talked too much about sex; that he could be crudely suggestive; that he seemed to have a need to push boundaries.

And that no one ever called him on any of it."His loose discussions about sexuality might have seemed refreshingly raw and real, especially since church had always been so stuffy and prudish in the past," said Rob Brendle, associate pastor of the megachurch in Colorado Springs, Colo. "In retrospect, some of his comments and interactions that at the time seemed edgy, but innocent enough, now seem questionable."

One example of this penchant for sex talk appears in Alexandra Pelosi's film, where Haggard brags that Christians have better sex lives:

As an example of Haggard's inappropriate remarks, Brendle cited the pastor's boast to a documentary filmmaker that "evangelicals have the best sex life of any other group."

In front of the church, with the cameras rolling, Haggard then pulled aside two men from his congregation and asked how often their wives experienced orgasm. The clip is in Alexandra Pelosi's documentary "Friends of God," and is now on YouTube.

Here is that clip. I don't know about you, but I find this clip bordering on the bizarre. I also think that the claims are simply unbelievable!!