Don’t be surprised if the 2200 Club is replaced by the New Life Church (NLC), former home of senior pastor Ted Haggard in Colorado Springs. That’s because NLC should be so financially ravaged by the Haggard affair that it may have to close shop in Colorado and move here.

Yes, the former Club Mustang may become the New Church of the Penis. But give it a few days. After all, Haggard is now completely “heterosexual.” Despite what church officials report was years of male-to-male sex, Haggard, after three weeks of “intense counseling,” is a straight man. As Jay Leno said, “He’s fabulously heterosexual.”

No one thinks for a second that Haggard is now free of his ‘homosexual inclinations.’ And that’s because a lot of gay men struggle with the same desire for change. Changing one’s sexual orientation isn’t like changing one’s religion.

Most of us know that sexual desire can be suppressed and disguised. It doesn’t go away in three weeks. To suggest that it does is just another fraud perpetrated by some religious zealot.

The Haggard affair may serve as a catalyst to get our courts to finally stop allowing religious leaders to get away with fleecing and defrauding.

For example, NLC overseers indicated that, contrary to Haggard’s assertion, Haggard didn’t just have relations with a male prostitute (involving meth). Rather, the overseers discovered Haggard’s behavior involved “sordid conversation to overt suggestions to improper activities to improper relationships.”

Of course, the overseers go on to say that they cannot reveal more because they obtained the evidence through “confidential pastoral communications.”

This is the position of religious officials when child abuse investigators search for evidence of sexual abuse of minors. That evidence is privileged. It’s not. The First Amendment’s freedom of religion clause is not a cloak to protect child abusers or sexual harassers. Did Haggard seek sordid talk or activities with minors, employees or vulnerable parishioners? Most likely we’re all going to find out when suits get filed.

A few years ago, I wrote that the Catholic Church might consider bankruptcy when the hundreds of child abuse suits got close to trial. No surprise now when Bishop Brom of the San Diego archdiocese suggests that bankruptcy is on the table.

I would like to see a class-action suit filed by members of the NLC against Haggard and the other overseers.

The officers and directors at Enron are in jail for defrauding investors and employees. Religious officials who abuse our tax laws and use church property and funds to pay for sex and meth should suffer the same fate as other organized criminals.

Shouldn’t the flock that’s been fleeced be entitled to get their money back? The reality is that the laws in the U.S. give religious groups great latitude to conduct legitimate spiritual activities. That’s understandable. But the IRS and the Justice Department have been lax to ensure legitimate activities take place and that so-called “overseers” aren’t lining their pockets with large salaries and perks.

Most people know Rev. Pat Robertson believes God talks to him. Most don’t know he is a billionaire who has a private jet that takes him to the high above for those Godly chats.

Our tax laws give religious groups certain tax breaks unheard of for normal folk.

For example, pastors receive tax breaks on their homes. NLC could spend millions building a house for its pastor. The fair rental value of the home may be in the thousands, but the pastor doesn’t have to pay much in federal taxes. This is known as the parsonage exemption.

So when Rev. Ted gets his homosexual urges, perhaps he can come to Hillcrest and organize the New Church of the Penis. There’s a place for it on University Avenue.

He can legally have penis, meth and money, and not even City Attorney Mike Aguirre can stop him here. Robert DeKoven is a professor at California Western School of Law.