{"id":761,"date":"2006-11-04T19:01:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-04T19:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=761"},"modified":"2006-11-04T19:01:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-04T19:01:00","slug":"a-fall-from-a-height","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=761","title":{"rendered":"A fall from a height"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am in Colorado Springs today, where famous evangelical pastor Ted Haggard’s<\/a> fall dominates the news<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Frankly, to borrow the name of a better-known blog<\/a>, I just don’t “get” his kind of religion. A 14,000-member megachurch<\/a>? Why? So you can sit on your butt and be preached at and sung at among a huge crowd of strangers?<\/p>\n

My dislike for Haggard’s approach is more than theological. It is partly aesthetic–the whole megamall megachurch entertainment thing. And it’s partly because of the way that New Lifers regarded the most interesting parts of Colorado Springs (such as the Old North End and Tejon Street) as controlled by Satan or something. I wrote elsewhere that they do not understand the gods of the city<\/a>, only the gods of the suburban shopping mall.<\/p>\n

One excerpt: “[Jeff] Sharlet makes a good case<\/a> for New Lifers as exurban parasites, taking the services that the city provides but being unwilling to pay for them, either financially or psychically.”<\/p>\n

Anyway, he is toast now, although there will probably be some sort of public-repentence-as-career move. From a Christian perspective, LaShawn Barber’s coverage is about the best<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And that’s the news from “Fort God.”
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am in Colorado Springs today, where famous evangelical pastor Ted Haggard’s fall dominates the news. Frankly, to borrow the name of a better-known blog, I just don’t “get” his kind of religion. A 14,000-member megachurch? Why? So you can sit on your butt and be preached at and sung at among a huge crowd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[10,24,5,7,4,17,11,13],"class_list":["post-761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-american-religion","tag-christianity","tag-paganism","tag-publishing","tag-scholarship","tag-scotland","tag-shamanism","tag-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-ch","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1222,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1222","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":0},"title":"Ted Haggard is Back","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"You can't keep a good drama queen down.Ted Haggard, the disgraced pastor of the New Life megachurch in Colorado Springs, whom you might of thought would never occupy a pulpit again, but rather skulk around Phoenix, Arizona, peddling life insurance, is ba-a-a-ack.Ted Haggard, who proves that the Elmer Gantry archetype\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":315,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=315","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":1},"title":"Van Briggle The local PBS\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Van Briggle The local PBS station is running a documentary tonight about Artus Van Briggle, a leading Art Nouveau potter of a century ago whose short, brilliant career ended when he died in Colorado Springs of tuberculosis. (The studio and factory built around the time of his death is now\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":595,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=595","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":2},"title":"The Demons Downtown","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Colorado Springs Independent is out with its annual \"You're Sooo Colorado Springs\" round-up.To fulfill my obligation to be a religion blog, I'll list a few observations that readers from outside the \"Protestant Vatican\" might enjoy.You're sooo Colorado Springs if . . .10. You plan to meet friends for coffee\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9057,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9057","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":3},"title":"Can You Put Your Paganism in the Street?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Late last year, I read this in the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper: \"Pueblo Church Walks and Prays over Every Walkable Street in the City.\" About a year ago, the Rev. Jim Murray had a vision. In that vision, members of his church, the First Church of the Nazarene, 84 Stanford Ave.,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/union-ave.-1-2017-1024x936.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/union-ave.-1-2017-1024x936.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/union-ave.-1-2017-1024x936.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/union-ave.-1-2017-1024x936.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5999,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5999","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":4},"title":"Iron Mountain Ritual Site To Be Restored","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"When M. and I read this item in the Colorado Springs Gazette, our hearts soared. When we were newlyweds and bought our first house (a barely winterized 1920s cottage, 740 sq. ft.), it was just outside the lower left boundary of this photo of Iron Mountain in Manitou Springs, Colorado.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"Iron Mtn., Manitou Springs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/McGees-house.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11292,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11292","url_meta":{"origin":761,"position":5},"title":"“The Witches of Manitou”\u2014More than an Urban Legend","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The old spa town of Manitou Springs, located in the foothills west of Colorado Springs. Photo by Mark Reis, ( a former newspaper co-worker of mine) from the Colorado Sun. Click to embiggen. The Colorado Sun, an online news site, dropped this into my inbox yesterday, giving M. and me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"The old spa town of Manitou Springs, west of Colorado Springs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/manitou-springs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/manitou-springs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/manitou-springs.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/manitou-springs.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/manitou-springs.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/manitou-springs.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}