The listing for the purple massage table "where it all happened" between gay escort Mike Jones and fallen evangelical leader Ted Haggard was taken off eBay because of a violation of its charity policy, not because of complaints from Christians, an official of the online auction company said.

Jones put the table up for sale two weeks ago to benefit Project Angel Heart, a nonprofit that provides meals to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Jones believed the table had been taken down from the site because of pressure from Christian groups. One organization, an "ex-gay" ministry called Compassion without Compromise, called the auction "reprehensible" and urged people to contact eBay and ask it to remove the item.

"I have put an alert on my ministry's national website and have also informed other national Christian ministries, including the American Family Association," wrote the ministry's executive director, Rev. Karen Booth, in a letter to eBay's corporate offices.

The table was also the subject of numerous Christian blogs.

"If you contacted eBay to express your concerns or register a complaint, please contact them again for doing the right thing," reads a message on the Compassion without Compromise site.

But eBay maintains the site did not pull the massage table because of public pressure.

"There is a very specific procedure for people who want proceeds from their auction to go to a charitable group. We have those procedures in place so that the public can be assured that the money is going to charity," said eBay spokesman Hani Durzi.

"That's why the listing was pulled, not because of pressure from conservative Christian groups. That just wouldn't happen."

Haggard was removed as senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs after he admitted to buying drugs and engaging in "sexual immorality" with Jones.

quinterof@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5250