Ted Haggard is nothing if not addicted to the spotlight. He's someone who transgresses practically any standard of propriety in order to focus attention upon himself – always working for that pot of gold, which the fundamentalist gullible reliably give up to him, at the end of his shenanigans.

In Ted's latest manipulation of information about himself that's so personal you'd think it ought to remain private (and – if the information is true and newly recognized as Ted claims – allowed the grace of healing), Ted has announced he was sexually abused as a 7-year-old boy.

Why would someone with Ted's history of sexual disgrace and media manipulation offer up such tragic information for public parsing? Did Ted announce this information as an excuse for his soliciting a homosexual prostitute and taking methamphetamine? Or is he just finding a way to call attention to his new insurance business in Colorado Springs Arizona? Or perhaps he's laying the groundwork for a new pastorate.

Who cares.

Whatever calculation lies behind Ted's latest appropriation of the spotlight, you can be sure it's intended to groom Ted's interests. Which, unfortunately, we need to recognize because of Ted's continuing influence among right-wing Christianists (this all came to light because of two invited sermons Ted gave at an Illinois megachurch, where the ABC video of the event [accessible through the hyperlink above] shows 'em crying in the pews and is guaranteed to make you cringe).


UPDATE, Tuesday, November 25, 2008: Talk about cringe inducing... The Coloradoan yesterday published a veeerrry long profile of Ted Haggard's march back into the spotlight (Eric Gorski [AP religion writer] [24-Nov-08], Disgraced pastor returns as businessman, Coloradoan [Fort Collins, Colorado], page A8). The Associated Press distributed the profile nationally, and you can easily find it online (by searching on the title "Disgraced pastor returns, as Christian businessman," published November 23, 24 or 25).

The profile discusses Ted's November 2nd preaching engagement at the Open Bible Fellowship in Morrison, Illinois. The Fellowship turns out not to be a megachurch but rather a congregation of only 350 people (which – true to Ted's media savvy – didn't stop him from briefly posting his two sermons from the engagement on his website [registered through GoDaddy.com; created on 30-Jul-07; as of 17-Nov-08, scheduled to expire on 29-Jul-09] under the headline, "Alive!").

Ted's enabler in arranging the engagement was an old friend of his, from his undergraduate days at Oral Roberts University. Rev. Chris Byrd thought Ted would be a great speaker because, Byrd unctuously explained, "I had confidence [Ted's] heart was solid, his theology is sound and the message he's always bought to the body of Christ would come forth." An assertion that certifies Byrd as a card-carrying member of the non-reality based community.

I won't belabor the issue. We all know Ted out-Gantries all of them. Gorski – who wrote the AP profile of Ted – explains what's up:

While his exact plans remain unclear, Haggard is unmistakably making himself a public figure again, nine months after his former church said he walked away from an oversight process meant to restore him.