The year in morality, abridged

From Friday:

Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued the following statement regarding today's revelations about the conduct of the Rev. Ted Haggard, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

"It's been a really tough year for the Religious Right," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. "Their great moral champion Tom DeLay left Congress in disgrace. Their 'family values' allies in the House were caught covering up the Mark Foley scandal. Then they learned that Karl Rove's office thinks they're nuts. And, now, one of their most influential leaders is mired in scandal.

"It's interesting to see that Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are abandoning the sinking ship of their erstwhile colleague by trying to minimize his stature. In fact, Haggard represented far more people than both of those two combined.

"It looks as though Religious Right leaders ought to focus on their own family before they try to fix everybody else's."