No shame.

Can you believe this guy?

Ted Haggard, the former pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., is asking his supporters to send him money so he and his wife can pay for their college courses and living expenses. Haggard is going for his master’s degree in counseling. His wife is studying psychology. Haggard preached against homosexuality and gay marriage.

“It looks as though it will take two years for us to have adequate earning power again, so we are looking for people who will help us monthly for two years,” the e-mail message Haggard sent to his gullible supporters said. “During that time we will continue as full-time students, and then, when I graduate, we won’t need outside support any longer.”

Gag me.

Haggard and his wife apparently have jobs already lined up as counselors at the Phoenix Dream Center in Phoenix, Ariz., a faith-based halfway house. They’re in the process of moving there right now.

Just in case you forgot, Ted Haggard is the (pardon me) stinking, lying hypocrite who was forced to resign his influential position as pastor of the New Life megachurch, which he’d founded, and as head of the National Association of Evangelicals after it came out in 2006 that he’d carried on a clandestine, three-year-long gay relationship with male “escort” Mike Jones of Denver.

Jones alleged that Haggard had also purchased methamphetamine from a third party and used the drug.

Haggard, who’d visited the White House several times and took part in weekly conference calls with other evangelicals and Cmdr. Codpiece (are we surprised?), initially denied Jones’ accusations of homosexual conduct, but later admitted the relationship. He also finally admitted buying meth. But only once, he said, and he swore he hadn’t used it.

Uh-huh.

Jones said he went public with his allegations because of Haggard's support for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage that was on the ballot in Colorado. He eventually wrote a book about his experience.

"For someone who is up there preaching that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, and he's going behind his wife's back and seeing a gay man for sex -- I felt like I owed it to the gay community to expose the hypocrisy," Jones said after blowing the whistle on Haggard. He said he didn’t know for several years who Haggard really was, as he’d identified himself to Jones only as “Art”. The escort found out Haggard’s real identity two years into the relationship when he recognized him on television.

For the record: Haggard made $115,000 for the first 10 months of 2006, plus an $85,000 “anniversary bonus.” He left the New Life Church with a severance package that included a year’s salary of $138,000. His home, which is up for sale, has a market value of $715,051. If all that isn’t enough, he receives royalties from his books.

Where is his shame?

Update: Just to be clear -- I've no problem with homosexuality, bisexuality, or any other sexuality. Human beings are wonderfully diverse and creative creatures. But I really, really, really am disgusted by these hypocrites of the Christian-type, who have no trouble at all bilking innocent rubes out of their money for personal gain while screeching at them not to succumb to the temptations of the flesh. Haggard and his ilk turn my stomach.