A Megaproblem for Evangelicals
by Bob Cook

It appears that another Colorado megachurch pastor has, in the vernacular of the Fark.com message boards, caught "teh ghey." The Denver Post reported that the Rev. Paul Barnes of the 2,100-member Grace Chapel in suburban Denver's Douglas County has stepped down after telling his church, through a videotaped statement, that he had a "hidden life" of homosexuality.

From the Post's account: "I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy," Barnes said in the 32-minute video, which church leaders permitted The Denver Post to view. "...I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away."

Barnes had preached to his church about integrity after the forced resignation of Ted Haggard, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, for not having sex with the male prostitute from whom he bought the meth he didn't use.

But according to the Post, an anonymous call to the church set the wheels in motion for another evangelical pastor to be revealed as hating the sin, but being the sinner.

It's sad, really. If you want more evidence that homosexuality is born, not made, look at Barnes' statement that he knew when he was five that he was different from the other boys. Evangelical leaders are saying they expect more pastors to be outed. What they're not saying is that it's clear there are those who became gay-hating pastors because of the guilt they have over their own homosexuality. It's not healthy for anybody — not for the pastors themselves, their families or their congregations, all participating, knowingly or not, in a lie.

The Post quoted Craig Williford, a local evangelical leader and president of the Denver Seminary, as saying maybe churches have gone a little overboard in communicating the official condemnation of homosexuality: "We may have talked about the evils of homosexuality in attempts to justify our position and not been as evenhanded or fair in representing the homosexual community as we should have been. At times, we have probably over-generalized the lifestyle and made villains out of people who live in homosexuality."

Uh, you think?

Unfortunately, rather than go through the difficult but necessary task of coming to grips with his own homosexuality, Barnes is going through the similar kind of "restoration therapy" as Haggard in an attempt to drive out teh ghey. Do they expect it's going to be vomited out like Linda Blair's pea soup?

E-mail Bob Cook at bobc@flakmag.com.