Ted Haggard can't keep himself out of the news. Over the weekend, reporters contacted Ted at his home in Colorado Springs (pictured to the left). Brady Boyd, who replaced Ted as the pastor at New Life Church, confirmed that Ted and Gayle had, indeed, taken up residence again at their Colorado Springs home. The article also reports that back in January of this year Ted dropped out of his spiritual restoration program, after completing just two years of the anticipated five year course.

Whether you consider this newsworthy depends on whether you think the politicized Christianity – and the Christianists who led it, such as Ted – should be held accountable for promoting the mendacious right-wing radicalization of this country – politically and culturally – over the last 30 years.

Furthermore, the timeline of the affair suggests a clear-eyed calculation on the part of all the parties involved. Here's how a poster at Crooks and Liars appraised Ted's return to Colorado Springs (Gretchen [25-Jun-08], Comment 26 [in response to Logan Murphy (25-Jun-08), Ted Haggard completes "spiritual restoration program"], Crooks and Liars, online at crooksandliars.com [accessed 25-Jun-08]):

Ted knew he had the church in a tough spot – there were more people than just him making a load of money off a lot of people and if the 'fearless leader' went down in a sex and drug scandal the sheep would blow the fold. The deal was brokered to keep him out of the way and quiet for "spiritual restoration" while a new 'fearless leader' was quickly put into place to keep things together. They wanted him out of the picture to give the leadership time to gain the trust of the flock. They've let him off the hook early because the bottom line has held and the money is still coming in at the previous rate. Now he has that cash from the "severance", everything he squirreled away before (which is considerable) and stands to make millions off of his "spiritual restoration." That's how these guys work.