I’ve gotten about a dozen emails from folks asking me why I haven’t written about the Ted Haggard scandal as it’s just the sort of religious hypocrisy I tend to enjoy seeing unmasked. Part of the delay was due to my being busier than expected lately, but I was also waiting to see how the story developed over the following days since it first broke. I fully expected Haggard to come out swinging with denials of all the accusations, but it turns out he’s pretty much owned up to them and, after being fired from his job as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, he’s even written an apology letter:

“I am so sorry for the circumstances that have caused shame and embarrassment for all of you,” he said, adding that he had confused the situation by giving inconsistent remarks to reporters denying the scandal.

“The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There’s a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life,” he said.

Haggard resigned last week as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, where he held sway in Washington and condemned homosexuality, after a man claimed to have had drug-fueled homosexual trysts with him. Haggard also placed himself on administrative leave from the New Life Church, which has 14,000 members, but its independent Overseer Board fired him on Saturday.

In his letter, Haggard said “the accusations made against me are not all true but enough of them are that I was appropriately removed from his church leadership position.”

Haggard doesn’t go on to explain which allegations are true and which aren’t, but that’ll come with time I’m sure. There used to be a certain irony in discovering that a strongly anti-gay politician or religious leader—like Foley or Haggard—was engaging in the very activities he was publicly demonizing, but it’s starting to become so common that the irony is starting to fade. Haggard still manages to shock us in a new way, however, as Dan Savage points out that during a recent interview with a news team about his scandal Haggard answered questions from reporters in front of his kids. Talk about family values!

Last week was not a good one for several Christian fundies. I am deeply moved by their plight to near uncontrollable fits of giggles.