Haggard Appearance

Okay, so Haggard came out publicly to apologize to his congregation for the embarrasment caused by his actions. He hasn't said what of the allegations are true, but that many of them are.
This post here has some good commentary on how this is a good example of how many of the issues with homosexuality in this country stem from the belief that sexual practices of that ilk are against god. Believe what you will though, this is certainly not something I would claim as FOR god:
"Therefore, as a means of encouragement, I would like to share some practical suggestions for fellow Christian leaders, especially young men:

• Most pastors I know do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with their wives. At the risk of being even more widely despised than I currently am, I will lean over the plate and take one for the team on this. It is not uncommon to meet pastors’ wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness. A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband’s sin, but she may not be helping him either.
• No church should tolerate sexual sin among its leaders. Christians cannot be guilty of playing plank-speck with non-Christians on matters of pornography and homosexuality and be guilty of going soft on sin in their own leadership. As Paul says, nothing can be done out of partiality or favoritism.

Pastors should have their office at the church and their study at home. There is no reason a pastor should be sitting alone at the church at odd hours (e.g., early morning and late evening) to study when anyone can drop in for any reason and have access to him. Instead, a pastor should come into the office for scheduled meetings and work from home on tasks such as emails, planning, studying, sermon preparation, etc. I spend the vast majority of my time working from home. Some years ago when I did not, I found that lonely people, some of them hurting single moms wanting a strong man to speak into their life, would show up to hang out and catch time with me. It was shortly thereafter that I brought my books home and purchased a laptop and cell phone so that I was not tied to the church office.

• Pastors have the right to protect their own home. This means that if someone keeps dropping by unannounced and is unwelcome, or a flirtatious woman shows up to a Bible study at the pastor’s home, the pastor and his family have the right to request that they never return. The pastor’s home simply cannot be viewed as yet another piece of church property that is accessible to anyone who desires it. Rather, the pastor’s home must be a safe place for the pastor and his family without the wrong people rudely calling and dropping by.
• Churches should consider returning to heterosexual male assistants who are like Timothy and Titus to serve alongside pastors. Too often the pastor’s assistant is a woman who, if not sexually involved, becomes too emotionally involved with the pastor as a sort of emotional and practical second wife. I have been blessed with a trustworthy heterosexual male assistant who can travel with me, meet with me, etc., without the fear of any temptations or even false allegations since we have beautiful wives and eight children between us.
• Pastors need to protect their email and have it screened for accountability. For me, this means that no email but an email from one of our pastors comes directly to me. This also means that I leave my email account open at home and my wife regularly checks it to get schedule information, etc., because I have nothing to hide. I also do not have a secondary email account from which to build a secret identity.

This was from another evangilical pastor's weblog. I edited out some of it, because there's already too much to talk about. Follow the link if you want to read the whole post. But the first point is probably the basest. To accuse a pastor's wife of "letting herself go" as an excuse for homosexuality. Of course, he claims that she's not responsible, but not helping either. Well that's crap. Many non-pastors have wives that have "let themselves go" and they don't always go to gay prostitutes. Quite often, they go to heterosexual prostitutes, unless they're oh i don't know... gay? He goes on to talk about how pastors should shield themselves from temptation and one way.. get this.. to be "blessed with a trustworthy heterosexual male assistant who can travel with me, meet with me, etc., without the fear of any temptations or even false allegations since we have beautiful wives and eight children between us." Ummm... let me get this straight(pun intended) the way to avoid temptations of homosexuality is to have a trustworthy male assistant who can travel with you, meet with you, etc. Man, jokes just write themselves don't they?
Bottom line, if you're a man of god, you must be a man of the people. If you're a man of the people, then you should be at the church at all hours for ANYONE to seek help. You shouldn't protect your cell phone number and block email from anyone but your fellow pastors. That's one of the biggest problems with religion, it's leaders that don't live in the real world. A sheltered society doesn't learn how to confront the difficulties of living in real society. If this man were my pastor and I had just read this, I would have many issues with his viewpoint on what his responsibilities as a pastor are. It's not about chumming around with your male friend who also has a hot wife, it's chumming around with the downtrodden. Isn't that what Jesus taught? Sometimes I wish people would read the book they preached. Which was why I included this: Christians cannot be guilty of playing plank-speck with non-Christians on matters of pornography and homosexuality and be guilty of going soft on sin in their own leadership."
For those not familiar, what he's referring to is the parable to "take the plank out of your own eye before trying to criticize the speck in mine". One of the many places in the bible which mention that god is the only judge and that humans shouldn't judge one another. That being said, a true christian should never be guilty of "playing plank-speck". Ever! Not just to non-christians, not just on pornography and homosexuality, but NEVER EVER EVER. Read your bible you fucking hypocrites!