Not surprising, the HBO special, The Trial of Ted Haggard, seems to put his former church on trial rather than the pastor who bought sex and meth from a male prostitute.

Lee Grady writes:

”. . . the tragic flaw of The Trials of Ted Haggard is [director Alexandra] Pelosi’s attempt to blame New Life Church for Haggard’s problems. She seems aghast that he was fired simply for sexual immorality-and then characterizes the restrictions placed upon him by New Life’s elders as “exile.”

“Haggard plays along with the blame game at times. When Pelosi asks him, “Where are your friends now?” Haggard stares across an Arizona sky and answers: “They left. I violated the rules.” When she brings up the subject of his restoration process-which required him to leave Colorado and submit to a counseling process directed by pastor Tommy Barnett of Phoenix First Assembly of God-Haggard says: “The church has said, ‘Go to hell.’ The church chose not to forgive me.”

”(The truth: No one at New Life, Phoenix First or any other church wanted Haggard to go to hell. It was unfortunate, however, that one New Life leader was quoted as saying that Haggard needed to “disappear.”)

“Pelosi paints New Life Church and Haggard’s restoration team as the bad guys. In actuality, Haggard’s church gave him a generous severance package that included a year’s salary, continual care for the Haggard’s special-needs son and months of counseling.”

Did you see it? What was your response?