Don't look now, it's a running theme -
Sep. 23rd, 2004 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgJimmy Swaggart tells congregation he'd kill gays
by David Batstone
Last Sunday Christian evangelist Jimmy Swaggart shared a shocking confession to his congregation during a worship service that is broadcast to a global audience. In the middle of his sermon, Swaggart proclaimed that he would "kill" a man that looked at him with romantic intent.
Swaggart's sermon is so outrageous that I want to give you his exact words:
"I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry."
(shouts, applause)
"And I'm gonna be blunt and plain, if one ever looks at me like that I'm going to kill him and tell God he died."
(laughter, applause)
"In case anybody doesn't know God calls it an abomination. It's an abomination! It's an abomination!"
(applause)
..."I'm not knocking the poor homosexual. I'm not. They need salvation just like anybody else.... I'm knocking our pitiful, pathetic lawmakers. And I thank God that President Bush has stated we need a constitutional amendment that states that marriage is between a man and a woman."
(applause)
No matter how reassuring it is that Swaggart subsequently admits that gays - "like anyone else" - are worthy of divine redemption, the overall tenor of his sermon drives home the message that violence against gays is justified. It's a very simple, but thoroughly un-Christian logic: Your life is not worth much if God deems you an abomination. In the same sermon, Swaggart praises Bush for his support for an amendment banning gay marriage - further cementing the perception that Christians can only vote Republican come November. (For some reason, Swaggart doesn't mention that John Kerry also opposes gay marriage, but Kerry simply doesn't think a constitutional amendment is wise or necessary).
How has it become so possible today for Christian leaders to twist Jesus' teaching about loving all of God's children? The pattern is transparent in many sectors of the church. Too many Christians have turned Jesus into a warmaker, not a peacemaker, and justify their position by the same logic. Our enemies in the Middle East are an "abomination."
On a more personal note, I recently received a note from a SojoMail reader full of profanity and insults. My attacker closed his note wondering how I could call myself a Christian, taking the position I do of waging peace in the Middle East at the expense of partisan support for "freedom fighters" in Iraq and uncritical support for the state of Israel. I usually do not take the time to respond to such letters (believe it or not, I get a few hate letters...:-), but this time I did write back a short note asking how he, in turn, could call himself a Christian and use such profane, violent words toward another human being. His e-mail back to me was revealing, albeit shocking: "I can write to you as I like, for you are not a human being. You have forfeited that right; you are nothing but pond scum."
That's the theological loophole for what passes as Christian morality these days. Simply demonstrate why the other person, or race of people, has forfeited their status as a human being, and you can do with them what you will. By the way, that is the same theological loophole used by the church in Latin America to justify the massacre of millions of native Americans during the Conquest; they were not deemed human beings.
Back to Jimmy Swaggart, it brings me to tears that a preacher can evoke a Christian congregation to applause and laughter with such a message. I am even more appalled that millions of people around the globe over television hear this "word of the Christian gospel."
Swaggart has since offered the kind of remorseless non-apology common to public figures these days: "I was unwise in making the statement. All of us have made statements we wish we hadn't made. That was one for me." What's missing is any indication that he believes that there was anything actually wrong with his original remark, which he claims was "a tongue-in-cheek statement best left unsaid."
Well, I for one am not going to let this pass unnoticed. I invite you to join me in holding this Christian leader accountable. Let's flood his e-mail with letters that witness to the truth - not hate letters - that God does not forfeit any individual from the human flock. All individuals are God's children and should be treated with the same dignity and love that God shows to each of us.
I add some emphasis - and I regret that good manners makes me put all that behind a cut.
But this, you should go look at.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 11:45 am (UTC)I'm happy to say when I went to church last, we prayed for peace in the middle east. No praying for one side or the other.
Right now they are doing a big campaign at work to raise money and goods to send to troops over in the middle east. I can't brind myself to help out. I respect that they are doing their jobs, heck my dad went during Desert Storm.
as for gays... The law is genderless!
no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 11:53 am (UTC)"Most so called christians learned more from the Romans than they did from Christ."
M.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 12:02 pm (UTC)I am a Christian and I dont believe the Republicans have the line to God.
I could really go on and on about this, but that will have to be for another time.
Brett
Preacher's Kid and still not a Neo con....
no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 12:05 pm (UTC)What always bothers me most in settings like that is that the audience laughs. There is nothing amusing in calling anyone an abomination or any other name he has chosen to use.
Zealots against zealots, the righteous against the righteous. It is a no win situation.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 12:22 pm (UTC)Personally, I would have thought a good Christian would show respect even to pond scum. But what would I know?
no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 12:23 pm (UTC)Not only do they listen to this guy, they pay to listen to this guy. I don't get it. I don't.
Sojourners.net has a nifty program out right now called "God is not a Republican...or a Democrat." I so need one of those bumper stickers right now!
no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 12:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 01:44 pm (UTC)Honestly, you should also be posting in
no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 01:54 pm (UTC)Wait, so:
Jimmy wants to kill a gay guy. But, he thinks God wouldn't already know about it. And, if confronted, he would lie to God about it.
So, not one but TWO violations of a Commandment, and the assumption that Our Lord is a total retard. Wow.
Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy....Tsk tsk.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 02:34 pm (UTC)Why do we need to campaign to send goods over there. They're there because we put them there. We need to be sending goods without quibbling about it. Period. Or bring them home.
Last time I asked, God didn't have tits or testicles. Or needed them.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-23 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-24 03:42 pm (UTC)Oh? When did we start drafting women into the army? :)
no subject
Date: 2004-09-25 07:35 am (UTC)