It’s hard to take the con out of the con man:
Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard won’t be fundraising for a Monument nonprofit run by a sex offender, won’t be ministering to anyone and needs to get a job, his overseers said in a statement released this afternoon.
“Mr. Haggard’s solicitation for personal support was inappropriate,” his church supervisors said in the statement.
One of my primary criticisms of organized Christianity is that there are unquestionably a number of con men and drama queens in the pulpit. Some of them are drawn to the idea of making money by doing little more than talking, others simply like being on stage with all eyes upon them every week. I don’t view this as a problem with Christianity itself – Jesus Christ and Paul both warn the believer about it – but it is a genuine problem that churches really aren’t doing a very good job of policing.
My position is that no fallen pastor should ever be allowed to return to the ministry. Forgiveness and restoration to the community upon repentance should of course be granted, but a return to a position of authority or spiritual oversight should never be permitted.
I don’t trust anyone who makes a better-than-average living by fund-raising, be it religious, political or charity.