Ted Haggard could definitely be a spiritual leader again. He just has to come to terms with who he is first. Mainly, he has to come to terms with his own sexuality and not live ashamed of it. Once he's finally honest with himself, he can be honest with his new flock. He obviously has a talent for preaching and leading. He obviously wants to do good in the world. If he accepts his identity, he could resume his post as a spiritual leader and, incidentally, become one of the most powerful and influential gay rights icons on the planet.

Well, if Haggard is a real leader, he could do just that -- start from scratch and build a new congregation of followers. But that would be a bigger challenge than was building his first group -- even though he now does at least have a head start in terms of name recognition.

It is my observation that nearly all the current crop of evangelists are drawing their followers from those whose core beliefs were already in line with those of the evangelist -- in virtually every case, those are social conservatives. Becoming a follower of one of these evangelists for them does not really involve changing any of their core beliefs. And it seems that homophobia is pretty solidly entrenched in that segment of the population from which most evangelists have drawn their flock.

So yeah, it would be a bigger challenge, a bigger test of his actual leadership abilities, if he were to attempt to build a congregation around a set of beliefs that includes the acknowledgement that sexual orientation is inherent rather than a choice. I believe that polls suggest growing numbers of religious conservatives are beginning to accept that view, so it is not necessarily an impossible mission.

Don't his character flaws bother you? Let us pretend he is heterosexual. He slept with at least one prostitute, he used meth and lied about it, he pressured a young member of his staff to sleep with him. He is a liar, he continues to lie. Aren't these things troubling? Are they things you think are acceptable in a spiritual leader?

I think he has some serious issues with denial and guilt. He lies to himself and so he can't help but lie to others (in order to perpetuate lying to himself about who, and what, he is). I think that if he comes to terms with who he is, if he stops lying to himself, then he will stop lying to others and he'll be able to lead again. He'll probably be much better at it than he was before.

I think that the fact that he wants to continue to lead is suggestive of someone possessed of enormous narcissm and a tremendous sense of entitlement. What does he have to offer as a spiritual leader?

Personally, I think that the "labor-in-obscurity" is the right choice for someone in his possession truly looking for redemption. The fact that he complains about the fact that he isn't receiving the position that he used to have suggests that he is not looking for redemption, he's looking for veneration. If he spent the next many years laboring in obscurity (like most of the faithful congregants), contributing to the body of the church without expecting to head it, doing the hard work without receiving the easy adulation, then he might have something to offer as a spiritual leader.