Ted Haggard took to the microphones yesterday. He held a press conference, announced he had founded a new church, and presented us with a world-class example of how to manipulate Christianist religion for personal gain: Ted Haggard aligned himself with James.

Haggard said:

Gayle and I and our children are here to announce this morning that we have, indeed, decided to start another local church here in Colorado Springs, and that we wanted to call the church St. James Church, in honor of the Book of James.

(Talk about acting upon "your lusts that war in your members" [James 4:1]. But I'm getting ahead of myself.)

Christianists believe James authored the Epistle of James and that he headed up the Church at Jerusalem, which means James headed up the first church anywhere. Also, Christianists believe James was Jesus's brother, who Jesus converted sometime between the time He rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.

You'd think those credentials would elevate James to the highest authority on Christianist belief and practice, but that's not the case. James had the misfortune of butting heads with Paul. The adversarial relationship between the two of them is barely papered over in scripture (Luke does what he can in Acts). And most unfortunately for James, Paul was the one who got out and about, as a missionary, and who busied himself as the more prolific writer.

It's Paul's take on spirituality and organizational hierarchies (and biases) that form the basis of the Christianist/Evangelical religion we see today. You can verify this by scanning the Statement of Faith adopted by Ted Haggard's former Church – the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Look at the Biblical citations in the Statement (n=32), and you'll see 56% of them cite Paul (n=18); 3% cite Peter (n=1); and the rest cite a Gospel author (Matthew, Luke or John; n=13; 41%).

Differences between Paul and James could not have been more contentious. For example, they differed on how Jewish tradition integrated with the Christian belief system they were inventing. James wanted to follow the Law and, for example, circumcise those who professed an affiliation with Jesus. Paul was against that.

I'm giving only the barest indication of the issues that divided Paul and James, but Paul got so pissed-off at James that he cursed him (Galatians 1:6-7).

One of Paul's and James's most prominent areas of disagreement lay in the balance between faith and works. Ted Haggard quoted James's formula on the subject at his press conference: "[F]aith without works is dead" (James 2:20). Paul vehemently disagreed with that, and it's Paul's teaching on salvation through faith alone that we see reproduced in Christianist places like the New Life Church and its Statement of Faith.

On the other hand, it's James, not Paul, who contributes insight into matters of peace and justice, which aren't even taught at Christianist bastions like the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Oral Roberts University.

Thus, Ted Haggard's decision to align himself with James looks convincingly like he's inserting a wedge between himself and his Christianist/Evangelical background.

But for what purpose? Ted doesn't say directly, but he indicates where's he's headed.

In the press conference video, hyperlinked above, Ted references James and explains that, over the past three and a half years, he and his family have found, "The expressions of love towards us that were in a tangible form were especially valuable." Which seems to be the sum total of the experience and exegesis Ted applies to his newly found affinity for the Epistle of James.

Ted goes on to inform us, "St. James is a church for sinners, and a church for people who have hit rock bottom, and a church for people who want to help people who have hit rock bottom." And who could argue with that? But, it begs the question of which rock-bottom Haggard is prepared to recognize. He tells us:

Earth is not Heaven. And here on Earth...

•Sexuality is very complex and very confusing.

•Weight issues are a deep struggle people go through.

•Health issues.

•Prayer issues.

•Whether there's a God issue.

•How do I keep my family together issue.

•How do I keep from being so angry and broke [i.e., broken].

•How do I keep from hating other people.

And that's it. That's Ted's list of the problems ("issues") that afflict the middle-class and the upper-middle-class, where he – and his newly incorporated Church – can offer support.

Wisely, Ted has appropriated James as a way of differentiating his new church from other Christianist enterprises, which also compete for the dollars that "broken people", as Ted calls them, spend on recovery.

Ted turns James into a marketing tactic.