The Swaggart Legacy: “If one ever looks at me like that, I’m going to kill him and tell God he died.”

Rob Tisinai

November 19th, 2014

I’ve long suspected much of the paranoia coming from our opponents is projection: they worry if we gain popular support we’ll start treating them the way they treated us for years decades centuries millennia.  How bad can this paranoia get? Here’s Donnie Swaggart speaking on a Christian channel:

All of this is to shut the Bible up. They want the Bible gone. And I’m going to make a statement: These people that are trying to do this in Houston, the only difference between them and ISIS, those thugs in Iraq, is those here cannot chop our heads off. That’s the only difference. The heart is the same. The heart is the same. If they could silence us that way to intimidate others, that’s exactly what they would do.

To complete the circle, let’s visit with the man who raised Donnie, his father, evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, speaking to his congregation almost exactly 10 years earlier:

I’ve never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I’m going to be blunt and plain — if one ever looks at me like that, I’m going to kill him and tell God he died.

Cue applause.

Watch the video. It’s chilling. Swaggart did apologize later…kinda.

It’s a humorous statement that doesn’t mean anything. You can’t lie to God — it’s ridiculous. If it’s an insult, I certainly didn’t think it was, but if they are offended, then I certainly offer an apology.

You have to wonder what does count as an insult in the privacy of Jimmy Swaggart’s home, the home where Donnie grew up.

Of course, for this to be true projection, Donnie would have to feel about us the way he’s accusing us of feeling about him. I haven’t found any direct indication that he does. But saying gays want to murder Christians is a good way of getting his followers to that point.

enough already

November 19th, 2014

Every time I think it can’t get any worse, it does.
Judaism seems to have (largely) escaped the hatred of the other Abrahamic religions.
Surely it can’t only be that they’ve had a few extra thousand years to figure things out?

Soren456

November 19th, 2014

Outrage for the sake of attention.

Until now, I’d never heard of Donnie Swaggart—and surely there are millions more like me.

That invisibility must have hurt his bottom line. This will help fix it.

And it’s true that pure irresponsibility is his legacy.

Nathaniel

November 19th, 2014

Ah, the irony. They are the ones using religion as an excuse to fire us, refuse us housing, deny us service, and even prevent us from getting legal recognition for our relationships. But we’re the ones acting like ISIS. Just so we are clear, his mention of Houston suggests they are discussing the Houston non-discrimination policies. It doesn’t force churches to change their theology or their sermons. It doesn’t force people to like LGBT people. All it requires is that LGBT people be treated like human beings. But for some people, even that is too much.

Richard Rush

November 19th, 2014

I have no doubt that there is a subgroup of True Christiansâ„¢ who are envious of ISIS, and admire them for their unwavering courageous dedication to enforcing religious purity (even though it’s the wrong religion, of course). I cannot believe a mindset that produced ISIS could arise among Muslims, but not among Christians. The difference seems to be that Islamic fundamentalism has much more of a stranglehold in the overall culture of Islamic countries than Christian fundamentalism has in any country where Christians are the majority.

Sir Andrew

November 19th, 2014

I’ve never seen a woman in my life I wanted to marry. And I’m going to be blunt and plain—if one ever looks at me like that, I’m going to kill her and tell God Jimmy Swaggart did it.

Hunter

November 20th, 2014

And the next time some gay kid is murdered, Swaggart will have had nothing to do with it, right?

Paul Douglas

November 20th, 2014

“Religion poisons everything.”
Christopher Hitchens

Chas

November 20th, 2014

I love it when “religious folk” advocate violence and murder. It always make me feel so warm and fuzzy for religion in general… not!

JEM

November 20th, 2014

Sir Andrew – I know that at least one straight person (and probably thousands more than me) regularly reads BTB. Thanks for making a joke about Swaggart’s remark (at least I hope it was a joke) so we can remember just how ridiculous it and he are!

My gorge rises every time I hear one of these asshats purport to speak for all Christians. Believe me, they DO NOT. Even the followers of denominations whose tenets include strictures against LGBT folks do not always agree with them.

But do, please, keep reminding me and other allies that we have yet more work to do!

John

November 20th, 2014

What makes these haters think that anybody would be interested in them?

KZ

November 22nd, 2014

I think the REAL Swaggart Legacy is crying in front of a camera because you were caught with prostitutes.

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