By REUTERS
Published: November 5, 2006
Filed at 4:04 p.m. ET

Skip to next paragraph COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - Disgraced U.S. evangelist Ted Haggard, a vocal opponent of gay marriage and poster boy for conservative causes, admitted on Sunday that he was guilty of ``sexual immorality.''

Haggard, under fire since last week when a male escort said he had a sexual affair with the preacher, said in a letter read at his New Life Church that he was ashamed.

``I am guilty of sexual immorality ... I am a deceiver and a liar. There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life,'' Haggard said in the letter, which was reads by a church overseer during a Sunday morning service.

``... from time to time, the dirt that I thought was gone would resurface, and I would find myself thinking thoughts and experiencing desires that were contrary to everything I believe and teach,'' he said.

Haggard resigned as president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals Thursday after the male escort made his accusation.

Haggard also agreed to step down as senior pastor of the New Life Church, a 14,000 member ``mega-church'' that he founded in 1985 and where he is known as ``Pastor Ted.''

Haggard, 50, had initially denied the allegations but began backpedaling on Friday when he admitted to seeking the man at a Denver Hotel for a ``massage'' and contacting him to buy the drug methamphetamine. He said he had thrown the drug away.

``The accusations that have been leveled against me are not all true but enough of them are true that I have been appropriately and lovingly removed from the ministry,'' Haggard said in his letter.

He said that the church's overseers had required him to submit to the oversight of Dr. James Dobson and two pastors.

Dobson is the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, an influential conservative lobby group also based in Colorado Springs, which is a hive of evangelical activity.

POSTER BOY

Haggard, with his chiseled features, wide smile and five children, had been a poster boy for the evangelical movement and social conservative causes that have been embraced by the Republican Party.

Conservative Christians are a support base for the Republican Party and President Bush. Evangelical leaders have been urging the faithful to vote in congressional elections on Tuesday with polls showing Republicans could lose control of at least one house of Congress.

Leaders in the movement like Haggard and Dobson also have encouraged conservative voters in eight states including Colorado to support proposed amendments to ban same-sex marriages.

In his letter, Haggard asked the congregation to forgive his accuser, who has been widely quoted as saying he came forward because he was angered by what he perceived as the pastor's hypocrisy on same-sex marriage.

Haggard has been a vocal opponent of gay marriage and has preached that homosexuality is immoral though he has not been as strident on the issue as other conservative Christians.

The issue is a raw one with many evangelicals who see gay marriage and lifestyles as a threat to the traditional family and by extension their vision of a functioning society.

Analysts have been divided about what impact the scandal will have on the polls on Tuesday.

The scandal has shaken New Life Church and the evangelical community in Colorado Springs.

``I will never set foot in another church again. How will I tell gay people or those who have sinned about Jesus if this is the way the church treats them,'' said a sobbing Cindy Whitehead, a 55-year-old grandmother, after she stormed out of New Life as the letter was being read during the second morning service.

Like many ``mega-churches,'' New Life has basketball courts, playgrounds, a restaurant and a cavernous 7,500 seat amphitheater.

__________________
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

— Benjamin Franklin

The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.

John Adams from the " Treaty of Tripoly, article 11

what does this have to do with politics in the news

Haggart is a poltical operative who has direct ties to Bush and the whitehouse. He has also worked to get his agenda on gay marriage on state ballots so to bring out the Christian base. This is what worked in 2004. So it is a completely amazing political story, when a person who has a church of 30 million, whom he tells that homosexuality is a sin, then goes out and commits it as well as breaking laws and doing dangerour drugs. It's a great day when "hollier than thou" assholes get torn down. Especially when these mega churches are preying on the elderly to give more than they can afford so that God will love them. Hopefully there is hell for those individuals. My only hope is that it stuns the base into dispare and they stay home on tuesday.

__________________
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

— Benjamin Franklin

The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.

John Adams from the " Treaty of Tripoly, article 11

I am not sure how much impact this will have on the election on Tuesday unless and candidate is somehow directly linked to that ideology or to the person themselves.

Has nothing to do with polics. They guy isn' running for office or has run for office or has served in office so sorry

I agree with you cat. Just nazi garbing at some shoestrings

I agree with you, too, Cat.
Nazi: I'm right, Cat is left, yet I always listen to his point of view. Go figure.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUHXHRHguj4

Mr. Stockbroker
"As a matter of opinion though possibly retarded WVpeach is still smarter than you. LOL"

You know Todd; the biggest difference I see between us is that I wouldn't wish hell on anyone; that is NO ONE. But after getting to know you somewhat on these forums and witnessing time and again how you revel in the disgrace of Christians who have given into the same sins others are tempted with, I honestly believe that your heart is so cold that you would gladly lead Christians to literal slaughter.

He was on conference calls once a week with the President,thats political!

Isn't it weird how these guys pop up with all this information about Foley and Haggard right before mid-term elections when all this stuff has supposedly been going on for years? Can you even imagine someone having a 3 year tryst with Ted Haggard and never knowing until the end that he was the leader of one of the largest evangelical churches in Colorado?

Makes one wonder if it’s all just a big coincidence or if maybe some of Soro’s cash made it into someone's greedy little pockets… either recently or years ago.