Points for recognizing the quote.
It is like an election. And with projected national turnout not above 40%, I am forced to despair for the country. Seriously. There is no good reason to sit this one out.
Once I finish writing, I’m going to double check that my ballot actually got there in time. God bless FedEx, beloved in Her creation.
Also in metanews, many thanks to Vegankid for the prompt response on the DOS attack that tried to take our server down. If you’re thinking about moving to your own domain…i can’t say enough good things.
I’d like to close up a few things that got brought up in the continued discussion on Haggard.
There seems to be a sharp dichotomy in terms of if people have sympathy for Haggard. It also seems like I’m in the “have” camp. A complication. First, in many ways I don’t. Meth use in queer communities is often linked with barebacking and other highly unsafe sex practices. The resurgence of unsafe sex in certain queer communities is really disturbing to me, and the closet still plays a major role in how people protect themselves. If you can’t even admit that you’re queer, how are you supposed to have safe queer sex? No matter the reason, this is a serious harm that he is responsible for. Putting a loved on at risk without their consent is a huge problem. Sly has nothing but condemnation for doing something so selfish.
To the extent that this whole project relies on “look, a faggot!” as the punchline, then I find myself in reluctant defense of Haggard, because I know that such hate could easily target anyone of us next. And that it will. Even if it was or will be Haggard spewing it. The first response of the queer community to the outed has to be open arms, even if we know we will be rejected, even if it makes little sense. I’m much more interested in protecting QueerNation than I am in policing its boundaries.
As a further note. Watch for Dobson to make a play for NAE leadership. I severely doubt that he would go directly for the position, as he is indeed contraversial, even in some evangelic circles. But I would be extremely surprised if a Focus On the Family ally was not put next in line. New Life will struggle for independence in the coming months, and FOF is right next door. More than the other “overseers” that have been appointed over Haggard, Dobson has the clout to make it mean something. While there is no direct custodial agreement over the church, an Associate Senior Pastor by definition is…no pun intended, a minion. If they’re going to stop the bleeding, they’ll bring someone in from the outside. Otherwise, watch the church disintegrate into smaller congregations (remember all those cell groups). FOF will be right there to “help guide” new congregations. Dobson just got handed a serious bid for supremacy in the Fundagelical World. It’s hard to predict what all happens next, but do count on him trying to capitalize on this.
Watch for environmentalism and social justice to be re-gendered again, as Haggard had been trying to move them to prominence in evangelical discourse. They’ll go back to being feminine and queer. Adjectives “silly,” “tree-hugging,” “pointless,” “touchy-feeley,” and “PC” will be important. You’ve all seen this happen before, and it will be classic.
In the end, I’m a strange queer radical. I follow the Frank Rule pretty carefully, and am reluctant to participate in any outing, unless it is justified by immediate harm to Queerdom. Haggard did harm the queer community. And he did so from the closet. Outing him makes tactical sense, right?
But with pictures like this…with Dobson moving in…
What did we really get?
-sly
The Life and Times of Sly Civilian 
November 7, 2006 at 10:50 pm
If it is any consolation, you would be surprised just how unimportant the NAE is for most evangelicals. Heck, I am pretty informed about matters evangelical but I did not even hear about the NAE until a year ago, and did not know its president’s name until last week.
I still have access to the in-house discussion forum system for Biola University, a pillar of the evangelical community, and I just did a full text search of all hundredsomething discussion folders on the name “Haggard.” Two short threads, one that was just news links and the other mainly discussed the drug use.
The NAE is not a denominational structure, and most evangelicals are not aware of its existence and do not see at as an authority that they follow. Aside from the local question of an independent Colorado congregation losing its pastor, there is neither a national evangelical power vacuum nor a chance for Dobson to sieze any more power in evangelical-dom than he already has. The movement is too decentralized and splintering-prone for such a move to be made.
November 8, 2006 at 12:32 am
Haggard didn’t walk into meetings with Bush because he’s a mega-church pastor.
Plenty of folks, with larger congregations, didn’t have his level of access. Political mobility determined that. At very least, Dobson just bought himself a shiny new mailing list.
If i might suggest, you may be on the far side of the evangelical world. Haggard had cover stories, not just in MSM, but Christianity Today. So, for folks in mainline denominations who tend rightward, this may be more of a deal than for someone who identifies as non-denom.
In the end, with midterm losses, but with the strong performance of anti-queer measures, Bush is going to be looking for options. Dobson’s gonna be selling.
November 8, 2006 at 1:11 am
Yes Haggard had more political access. Running a well-connected organization will do that. That does not make him some kind of evangelical bishop. Placement in the political end of the movement does not make him a spiritual power that is felt on the level of the congregation.
And trust me, I am not on the far side of the evangelical world. I am to the right of, say, Fuller, but I have no real objection against CT, read NT Wright favorably, and find most (read, almost all) Christian radio to be quite objectionably conservative. Schools like Master’s College (which I tend to find a bit scary), a very Focus on the Family place, look at me rather suspiciously, and the truly hardbitten reactionary scum like Bob Jones or (God forbid) Pensacola would probably try to cast demons out of me while shouting “flee, liberal fiend!”
So while the succession in the NAE is important for many reasons, but leading it is hardly leading evangelicalism (at least from the perspective of non-denoms), especially given the ephemeral nature of most evangelical organizational structures and the broad distrust of ecclesial hierarchy past the local level. Evangelicalism more resembles a bowl of assorted mixed nuts than a truly organized and cohesive movement.