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<\/a>You may have heard that Ted Haggard<\/a>, president of the National Association of Evangelicals<\/a>, resigned last week following revelations<\/a> concerning drugs and sex with a gay male prostitute.<\/span><\/p>\n
I have been pondering whether to post anything on that here \u2014 given Haggard\u2019s appearance in the documentary Jesus Camp<\/a><\/i> \u2014 but haven\u2019t known quite what to say. I have even thought of contacting the filmmakers<\/a> to see if they have any thoughts on this. But now, it seems the Associated Press<\/a> has already done so:<\/p>\n The Rev. Ted Haggard has been fired amid allegations of gay sex and drug use, but the evangelical leader can still be seen at the height of his powers preaching to thousands and condemning homosexuality in the documentary \u201cJesus Camp.\u201d<\/p>\n In one scene of the film, which follows a group of children as they develop evangelical Christian beliefs, directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady visit Haggard\u2019s 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. He tells the vast audience, \u201cWe don\u2019t have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity. It\u2019s written in the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n Then Haggard looks into the camera and says kiddingly: \u201cI think I know what you did last night,\u201d drawing laughs from the crowd. \u201cIf you send me a thousand dollars, I won\u2019t tell your wife.\u201d <\/p>\n Later, another joke for the filmmakers: \u201cIf you use any of this, I\u2019ll sue you.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n \u201cJesus Camp\u201d is playing in several cities and expands to more on Friday and throughout the year. Ewing and Grady said that when they shot footage for the film at the New Life Church in October 2005, they were struck by how enraptured Haggard\u2019s followers looked.<\/p>\n \u201cPastor Ted, they were so proud of him. They thought he was hip, young, he didn\u2019t have that stodgy James Dobson feel,\u201d Ewing said Monday, referring to the Focus on the Family founder. \u201cThey all really adored him, that\u2019s the first thing I thought \u2014 those people, those faces, they hung and took notes on every word he said \u2014 I can\u2019t imagine what those people must be feeling.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n Grady said that when she first heard about the accusations against Haggard, \u201cI was shocked but I was not surprised in any way because he did come across as somewhat of a hypocrite even in our movie \u2014 in a smaller way, of course. He was so cynical in that exchange with that child in our movie, it was odd and it popped out.\u201d . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It seems crass to raise this question, but you have to wonder if the scandal will boost the film\u2019s box-office prospects, or affect the content of the eventual DVD. It appears the film\u2019s American distributor may already be exploiting this development; someone named \u201cMagnoliaPictures\u201d has posted the following clip of \u201cTed Haggard Bashing Gays\u201d \u2014 their title, not mine \u2014 to YouTube:<\/p>\n