c. 2006 Religion News Service
Colleagues Dismiss Claims Haggard Involved in Gay Relationship
(RNS) Colleagues of Ted Haggard, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, are dismissing claims that he has been involved in a sexual relationship with a gay Denver man.
Male escort Mike Jones told Denver’s KUSA-TV on Wednesday (Nov. 1) that Haggard had paid him for sex for the last three years.
“People may look at me and what I’ve done as immoral but I think I had to do the moral thing in my mind and that is expose someone who is preaching one thing but doing the opposite behind everybody’s back,” Jones told the TV station in an interview.
Haggard repudiated the claims in an interview with the same station.
“I’ve never had a gay relationship with anybody and I’m steady with my wife, I’m faithful to my wife,” said Haggard, who also is senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“So I don’t know if this is election-year politics or if this has to do with the marriage amendment or what it is.”
He told the station that he is willing to have his church get an “independent group” to investigate the claims against him. Haggard, who is married and has five children, has been outspoken in his opposition to gay marriage.
“It is unconscionable that the legitimate news media would report a rumor like this based on nothing but one man’s accusation,” said Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, also of Colorado Springs. “Ted Haggard is a friend of mine and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing the outcome of Tuesday’s election _ especially the vote on Colorado’s marriage protection amendment _ which Ted strongly supports.”
The Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, said the claims do not fit what he knows of Haggard.
“All I can say is this is surely a smear and I just don’t see much need to respond to it,” said Cizik, who is based in Washington.
Haggard was not available when Religion News Service sought further comment.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Bahais Say Iran Steps Up Monitoring of Minority Group
(RNS) Iran’s Bahai community has been under siege throughout its 150-year history, but a letter reportedly obtained from Iran’s Ministry of the Interior has some fearing that Tehran plans to increase persecution of the group.
The authenticity of the letter could not be determined. But the document, obtained and released by Bahai leaders, was consistent with those previously leaked to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the U.S., said Aaron Emmel, a group spokesman, on Thursday (Nov. 2).
In the letter, dated Aug. 19, Iran’s Interior Ministry director Seyyed Mohammad Reza Mavvalizadeh said the Iranian government had received reports that some Bahais “are attempting to teach and spread the ideology of Bahaism, under the cover of social and economic activities.
“In view of the fact that this sect is illegal and that it is exploited by international and Zionist organizations against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we therefore ask (provincial officials) … to cautiously and carefully monitor and manage the Bahais’ social activities,” the letter said.
Kit Bigelow, the Bahais’ director for external affairs, said the letter was significant because it is “part of a larger strategy by the Iranian government to destroy the Bahai community in Iran.” But Bigelow said Iranian Bahais were resolute and would “continue as they have continued before.”
Over the last two years, at least 129 Bahais have been arrested in Iran, according to the assembly.
The Bahai faith was founded during the 19th century in Persia _ now Iran _ by Baha’u’llah. It is a monotheistic religion derived from the Shi’a sect of Islam but separate from it. Bahais claim their religion is the latest in a series of “progressive revelations,” a concept heretical to some Muslims who believe Muhammad was the last of the prophets.
According to the Bahai World Center Department of Statistics, Bahais number around 6 million in more than 200 countries. About 300,000 live in Iran and 160,000 in the U.S.
_ Keith Roshangar
German Pastor Sets Himself on Fire in Protest Against Islam
BERLIN (RNS) A retired German pastor set himself on fire Tuesday (Oct. 31), apparently killing himself as a protest against what he saw as the increasing influence of Islam in his country.
Roland Weisselberg, 73, entered the grounds of the Augustinian Monastery in Erfurt Tuesday morning while services were under way and made his way to a part of the monastery under construction. According to witnesses quoted in the Frankfuter Allgemeine Zeitung (Frankfurt General Newspaper), he doused himself in flammable liquid, which he then ignited.
Witnesses say he exclaimed “Jesus and Oskar,” before igniting himself, a reference to a pastor named Oskar Bruesewitz, who set himself on fire in 1976 in the east German town of Zeitz to protest the policies of the East German government.
It is not clear if Weisselberg was trying to enter the church before he committed suicide. The route he took would have normally led to a door into the church, but that entrance was blocked to prevent drafts. Attendees of the service did not notice the suicide, but nuns and other monastery workers on the grounds attempted to douse the flames.
Weisselberg was taken to a local clinic before being transported to a specialized facility in Halle, where he died Wednesday from burns covering 60 percent of his body.
Elfriede Begrich, provost of the monastery, said Weisselberg had worried for years about the growing influence of Islam in Germany and had recently written to her to say that he planned to do something more serious about the problem.
In a suicide note left to his wife, he apologized for his actions. Other details of the letter were not released, though a spokesperson for the local police said the letter spoke of “purely personal reasons” for the suicide.
Weisselberg was a pastor in the Erfurt suburb of Windischholzhausen from 1958 through 1989 and continued to hold services as a retiree, as recently as two weeks before his suicide.
_ Niels Sorrells
Clooney, Cronkite Honored for Work on Sudan, First Amendment
NEW YORK (RNS) Actor/director George Clooney was presented the ninth annual Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award by the Washington-based Interfaith Alliance.
At a Wednesday (Nov. 1) fundraiser for the the Interaith Alliance, Clooney was cited for his work championing the first amendment in film and for bringing attention to religious violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.
“The founders of our country were bright enough to understand that we were not a Christian nation, or a Jewish nation, or a Muslim nation, but a nation of Christians, Jews and Muslims,” Clooney said.
The evening also honored Cronkite, long known as “the most trusted man in America,” who turns 90 on Saturday (Nov. 4). The former anchor of the CBS Evening News started working with the Interfaith Alliance in 1997 when he said he became “aware of the severity of the threat to our democracy posed by the growing religious right movement.”
The Interfaith Alliance has kept a close eye on churches and politics during the mid-term elections, warning churches and candidates not to risk churches’ tax-exempt status by allowing partisan campaigning.
The Rev. Welton Gaddy, the president of the group, said that he was hoping for “informed voting” in the Nov. 7 election and that voters would “keep in mind that we’re not electing the holy man or holy woman of the year.”
“Things work best when religion acts like religion and government acts like government,” Gaddy said.
_ Jason Anthony
Beliefnet Teams With Yahoo! for Spiritually Influenced Personals
(RNS) For spiritual singles seeking a soul mate in cyberspace, one pool of potential matches is about to get a lot bigger.
Beliefnet, whose spirituality Web site (Beliefnet.com) attracts 3.1 million users per month, on Thursday (Nov. 2) said it will connect its dating service users with those of Yahoo! Personals, an online dating service based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Under the agreement, Yahoo! Personals will host Beliefnet’s Soulmatch dating venue. The new arrangement gives users of Soulmatch access to as many as 5 million singles who troll for new connections each month on the Yahoo! Personals site.
“For so many people, finding a soul match means connecting on a deep level _ seeing what’s on the inside as well as on the outside,” said Steven Waldman, CEO and co-founder of Beliefnet. “We want to help people who believe that spiritual connection is an important part of building a great relationship.”
Currently, women _ who make up 60 percent of Beliefnet users _ outnumber men on the Soulmatch Web site, Waldman said. But he expects “the partnership with Yahoo! will even that out.”
Beliefnet’s agreement with Yahoo! Personals comes at a time when social networking sites, such as MySpace, are demonstrating critical ability to attract large numbers of loyal visitors. Beliefnet originally launched Soulmatch, Waldman said, after noticing “the tremendous popularity of advertising for spiritually oriented online dating on our site.”
Among those advertisers was eHarmony, an online dating service that attributes millions of matches to a process that explores such factors as core values, spiritual beliefs, passions and character. However, the Beliefnet-Yahoo! site takes a somewhat different approach from eHarmony, Waldman said. While eHarmony uses a mathmatical formula to generate a list of potential matches, the Beliefnet-Yahoo! site gives users the tools to make their own short lists.
This year, eHarmony expanded its service to include interactive tools for helping married couples nurture their relationship. Beliefnet and Yahoo! Personals are taking a similar step by offering “expert relationship and dating advice” on their site to help users “build strong relationships.”
“We believe a great spiritual dating site would offer a large community of daters, excellent search and matching tools, and superlative content about spiritual relationships,” said Anna Zornosa, vice president and general manager for Yahoo! Personals. “Our partnership with Beliefnet will give us the opportunity to provide all three elements to customers seeking spiritual chemistry.”
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Anti-abortion Leader Criticizes Georgetown Over Drinin Honor
(RNS) The leader of a Catholic anti-abortion group has criticized the Georgetown University Law Center for creating an endowed chair in honor of Robert F. Drinan, a Jesuit priest who supported abortion rights during his 10 years as a Massachusetts congressman.
“Referring to Father (Robert) Drinan as a human rights hero is like calling Attila the Hun a diplomat,” the Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, said in a news release on Oct. 27.
Euteneuer said Georgetown should not have honored Drinan, a five-term Massachusetts congressman and former dean of Boston College Law School, because as an elected official he supported abortion rights.
Georgetown, a Jesuit university in Washington, D.C., formally announced the designation of the school’s new chair on Oct. 23. Drinan also received a distinguished alumnus award from Georgetown. He teaches courses on issues including international human rights, constitutional law, civil liberties and ethics.
“Few have accomplished as much as Father Drinan, and fewer still have done so much to make the world a better place,” Georgetown Law Center Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff said in a news release.
Drinan served in Congress from 1971 to 1980, when the Vatican told Drinan’s Jesuit superiors he had to give up the public office. His initial congressional campaign was based largely on opposition to the Vietnam War. He is the author of several books, including “Can God and Caesar Coexist? Balancing Religious Freedom and International Law.”
Euteneuer said Georgetown has a “history of offensive actions against the Catholic Faith” and is the same school that “taught Bill Clinton how to be a politician.” Clinton graduated from Georgetown in 1968.
_ Renee K. Gadoua
Quote of the Day: Christian Comedian Brad Stine
(RNS) “A lot of guys out there wouldn’t have the balls to be here. Are you ready to be a man? Are you ready to kick ass? Are you ready to grab your sword and say, `OK family, I’m going to lead you?’ Buckle up. This is GodMen!”
_ Christian comedian Brad Stine, speaking to 200 men gathered Oct. 28 for a “GodMen” meeting he helped spearhead in Nashville, Tenn., the first of a Christian men’s gathering he hopes will reinvigorate masculinity in churches. He was quoted by Newsweek.
KRE/JL END RNS
