John Armstrong just published an editorial on Ted Haggard. Here is a kind of lengthy quotation because I think it is important.

Ted Haggard had become the public face of the “E” movement in America. Like it or not, this is how the world sees it. Haggard stood side-by-side with James Dobson and had become the go-to-guy for the media. He was also the man, who only a few years ago (2003), proclaimed: “This is Evangelicalism’s Finest Hour” (Christianity Today, June, 2003). Said Haggard at the time, repeating the mantra of much of American evangelicalism:

This is one of the most exciting times for evangelicalism worldwide. Evangelical Churches are growing aggressively both in America and overseas. In the 1960s the dominant churches in most American cities were liberal churches. Now, the largest and strongest churches in most cities are evangelical.We’re better funded than ever before. We now have missionaries, printing facilities, Bible distribution efforts, and seminaries. There’s a new megachurch opening in America every two weeks, and the vast majority are evangelical.This is evangelicalism’s finest hour. It is the time for evangelicalism to assert itself in the public debate of ideas. One of my passions is to ensure that evangelicalism is thoughtfully and effectively presented. NAE needs to facilitate the body of Christ in the communication of the gospel.

Later in this same interview Haggard added words that now must haunt those who read them. When he spoke these words his relationship with a male prostitute was likely going on, or at least it was about to begin. Said Haggard to Christianity Today: “I don’t see dark clouds on the horizon anymore (for NAE). It’s profitable, it’s growing, and it’s organized.”

Is it me or do you see the hubris in much of evangelicalism? I do not believe Ted Haggard actually spoke out of character for evangelicalism, at least broadly speaking. This is how most of our leaders, at least those over fifty in age, actually see the present. One has to wonder if this personal failure, and the loss of many “moral issue” initiatives and endorsed candidates in the recent national elections, might lead a few of us to wake up to the real situation in our churches and leadership. We have adopted a public and private position that is filled with self-righteous triumphalism and it pervades almost everything we say and do.

Criticizing Haggard is not the point. If anyone feels good about himself for not having been subject to the sort of domination that Haggard was under, then he is in deep trouble. The point is: What does this mean about Evangelicalism? If someone can look at Evangelical Christianity in North America and think it is doing well, then it doesn’t seem to strange he would invent a rationale allowing him to keep a manstress and yet remain a qualified pastor. Fantasies of power lead in many directions at once. None of them good.

And I doubt they are restricted to visible leadership of mega-organizations. If ambition correlates with deviancy, then frustrated ambition probably does also. Statistically speaking, are the scandals among newsmaking evangelical leaders statistically different from scandals in the pulpit in general? Do we even want to know the answer to that question?