Media Expose Leads To Presbyterian Minister's Suicide

Rev. Brent Dugan was outed like Ted Haggard was, but killed himself in a motel room when the local media threatened to expose him.

My sincere condolences to Rev. Dugan's family, friends, and parishioners. This is a tragic loss. I am very saddened that Rev. Dugan felt so alienated from his faith that he felt the need to take his own life. Christian forgiveness is open to everyone, including to people far, far worse than Rev. Dugan.

Which is one of the points, when you think about it, of offering grace even to the worst of us. If God could forgive the devil himself--as the early church fathers finally decided He could--or Osama, or OJ, He can probably handle whatever's on your conscience, or on Rev. Dugan's.

Now speaking of things on one's conscience: what this local news station hoped to accomplish by filming him going into an adult bookstore is beyond me. This is news? It is news to his church and his friends, and if his private life was utterly inconsistent and irreconcilable with the message he was called to preach in that church, then they may have needed to fire him. But shouting PREACHER SECRETLY GAY! FILM AT ELEVEN! across the Pittsburgh airwaves seems brutal and pointless. And if they somehow attempt to justify it by saying "it's because he was a preacher"--then that's somehow better? Because that's drawing awfully close to religious bigotry.

I mean, come on, people. There isn't even an election on to "justify" this.

Reverend Haggard, by the way, got some sort of certification that he's now 100% gay-free, and he's headed off to grad school. One hopes this is his last time in the spotlight.