PEOPLE today have become accustomed to the perpetual prodding of televangelist from celebrities. You might hear on television a preacher scream to his congregation that homosexuality is a sin. Or, you might hear a celebrity like Bono of the band U2 urge others to give money for charitable causes. Surely, they practice what they preach, right?
Apparently not. Well, this is at least the case for two prominent celebrities: Ted Haggard and Bono.
Haggard, the disgraced former evangelical pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado is a fervent critic of homosexuality. Of course, like other critics, he invoked the words of Holy Scriptures in his condemnation. But recently, Haggard's life as a pastor has taken an ironic twist as several skeletons tumbled out of the closet. Gay prostitute Mike Jones revealed that Haggard approached him repeatedly for sex and drugs. Evidently, Haggard was gay (or bisexual). Though we should be careful to remember that Haggard wasn't only guilty of hypocrisy; his pursuance of gay sex with a prostitute and drugs was condemned by religious virtues. Christian doctrine as interpreted by Haggard maintain that it is sinful to commit sodomy and practice hedonism and it is unjust to violate the law. Plus, when compared to openly gay couples, Haggard committed illegal acts shrouded in a veil of lies and deception.
But being gay wasn't Haggard's crime. Rather, it was that he preached homophobia to the masses. At the same time he was indulging in gay sex with Mike Jones. To have Haggard representing evangelists taints the reputation of the church. This is, of course, because the leader garners most of the national spotlight. I turn now to yet another glaring example of hypocrisy.
U2, the band highly acclaimed for its altruism, has recently moved its financial operations from Ireland to the Netherlands. Paying considerably lower taxes was the primary motive for their move. The hypocrisy here is obvious.
The European Union's most recent Survey on Income and Living Conditions cited that 6.8 percent of Ireland's population suffers from poverty. "Consistent poverty" plagues Ireland they add. Despite being mired in poverty, Bono and U2 refused to pay taxes after Ireland's tax hike -- a tax increase that could elicit increase funds to reduce poverty in Ireland, a goal championed by Bono. Plus, U2 already enjoys a staggering $286 million in songwriting royalties. Higher taxes could certainly extract enough money to produce alleviate poverty. It's even more obvious considering, as the Guardian Unlimited noted, that one of U2's primary goals for their Make Poverty History campaign was that governments should give at least 0.7 percent of their national income to eliminating poverty.
And to think, this is the man who almost won a Nobel Peace Prize. Hopefully, Bono will never be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Otherwise, the prize awarded for a commitment to peace through selfless acts will be tainted with his hypocrisy.
I don't think I'm alone when I say that Bono is too didactic. He shouldn't instruct the world on poverty if he can't even express the philanthropic spirit he expects from others.
Let's hearken back now to my column last week. I underscored the importance of leader's to have conviction for their values. And it's all too clear that Haggard and U2 don't have enough conviction in what they believe. For this reason, we should have reservations about looking to others to be inspired to kindness or simply to maintain a certain belief. Haggard and Bono share a commonality with all of us: They're humans. And like most humans, they're not perfect.
Charles Lee's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at clee@cavalierdaily.com.
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