'Trials of Ted Haggard' a difficult portrayal to buy completely

ShareThis

HBO's "The Trials of Ted Haggard" offers an extraordinarily humane depiction of the former leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, who fell from their good graces after a scandal involving gay sex and drugs. Haggard comes off as pitiful, a self-described "first-class loser" who appears to be suicidal at one point.
But it's a difficult portrayal to buy completely after allegations late last week that Haggard had a relationship with a twentysomething male church volunteer, who talked to a Colorado Springs, Colo., TV station about his supposed relationship with Haggard because he feared the HBO doc would present Haggard as a victim. It's also difficult to believe the Haggard in the film after the former preacher told Newsweek that he never had an adult same-sex encounter with anyone other than male prostitute Mike Jones, whose revelations kicked off the Haggard scandal in 2006. (Haggard is scheduled to be interviewed on CNN's "Larry King Live" Thursday, beginning at 9 p.m. EST.)
"The Trials of Ted Haggard" (8 p.m. Thursday) runs a blessedly brief 40 minutes as produced by documentary filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That's an ideal running time. A more self-indulgent filmmaker would have gone on longer.
Alexandra Pelosi became friends with Haggard while filming "Friends of God," her 2007 documentary about evangelicals, and remained friendly with him afterward. That alone may shock some people: The liberal daughter of Nancy Pelosi is a friend of conservative Ted Haggard? Yet that friendship explains why Haggard would agree to participate in the documentary about what he and his family call their time "in exile," living in Arizona hotels and staying with supporters. Haggard sees the film as a chance to tell his side of his story, something he was unable to do for the past two years because his former church agreed to pay his salary and insurance for one year if he didn't speak to the media for two years.
At an HBO press conference earlier this month, Haggard, who now sells life insurance, said he and his wife have a better relationship than before the scandal.
"I made the wrong decision," Haggard said of his relationship with Jones. "I really hope I could have dealt with that area of my life privately and that didn't really work out. Now, when I look back, I wish I'd been open and transparent. I should have resigned my position way earlier than I did. I wish I would have been open with my children way earlier than I was and with the community, but I was ashamed and I was afraid. That's why I'm grateful for the accusations now that I'm two years down the road."
Haggard acknowledged that "sexuality is confusing and complex," but he's not about to become a gay-rights advocate. In the film, Haggard claims he "was never an anti-gay preacher," but he says he continues to believe "even though I'm a sinner, even though I am weak, God's best plan for human beings is for men and women to unite together and children's best opportunity to grow up in a healthy way is to grow up in a home with their biological parents." (Hmmm, what does this say for children adopted by heterosexual couples?)
Haggard's college-age daughter, Christy, who doesn't appear in the film but was a panelist at HBO's press conference, struck a conciliatory tone.
"We were more judgmental than we are now, and people were hurt by us and I know that a lot of people deserve a very sincere apology from our family because we are all the way we are for a reason," she said. "The way I interpret Scripture is so different from the way others do. We all have the right to make our own decisions without any fear from how other people perceive them. That's really important."
After the press conference, Christy Haggard said she won't judge what's right and wrong.
"I do believe everyone deserves respect and love and that we all should operate under a system that allows us to define our humanity the way we feel we should be. I believe God is a huge advocate of people defining who they are. He did give us so many freedoms," she said. "If a person is gay, that is completely between them and God, just like my decisions are between myself and God. It's not my right or anyone else's right to judge one another and decide what's right or wrong for them."
She also said that when her father revealed his struggles she was "so relieved at his humanity. I finally had a dad I could relate to and wasn't on a pedestal anymore. I found everything he said very, very easy to forgive. It wasn't a hurdle for me. I was surprised it was for other people."

(Contact Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV editor Rob Owen at rowen(at)post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit Pittsburgh Post-Gazette