The Nature of Hypocrisy

The Haggard fall-out continues. If reports and rumors are to be believed, Haggard had sex with a male prostitute and indulged in recreational drug use. His church, New Life, has now dismissed him for "sexually immoral conduct."

You would think Haggard's actions have rendered him pretty much indefensible, but David Frum (the speechwriter of "Axis of Evil" fame) wrote a column in Haggard's defense on his National Review Diary site. In this column, Frum says the following:

Instead of suggesting that his bad acts overwhelm his good ones, could it not be said that the good influence of his preaching at least mitigates the bad effect of his misconduct? Instead of regarding hypocrisy as the ultimate sin, could it not be regarded as a kind of virtue - or at least as a mitigation of his offense?

After all, the first man may well see his family and church life as his "real" life; and regard his other life as an occasional uncontrollable deviation, sin, and error, which he condemns in his judgment and for which he sincerely seeks to atone by his prayer, preaching, and Christian works.

I don't want to get into a lengthy theological debate (okay, maybe I do), but this line of thought strikes me as ill-founded. Christianity is fundamentally against hypocrisy of all kinds; Jesus left behind the legalism and emphasis on works so apparent in his day's Judaism.

This is the sentiment behind so much of the Gospels: no one is fit to preach from the pulpit or pray loudly among the public until they have left behind all sin. In that vein, Haggard's preaching does not 'atone' for his private deviations. It makes them all the worse.

Update: After e-mailing him basically the above comments, Frum responded to me with some clarification of his own. He noted that those taking delight in Haggard's downfall were also misconstruing the Gospel message of striving to overcome one's sinful nature, as he (Frum) believes Haggard was trying to do. In fairness, I must note that Frum has a point, and thank him for the correction!