The Unbelievable Lightness of Being Donnie Swaggart
Bill Berkowitz printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Nov 19, 2014 at 01:21:05 PM EST
It may not seem possible, but Jimmy Swaggart's son Donnie is making his father look pretty darned good. In the late 1980s, the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart, one of the most watched and wealthiest televangelists of his era, was involved in one of the Religious Right's most memorable and salacious sex scandals; he was caught with a prostitute in a hotel room located along New Orleans' notoriously sleazy Airport Highway. His tearful apology has become a YouTube classic. Some twenty-seven years later, Pastor Donnie Swaggart is raving about gays and lesbians wanting to behead Christians. Some one needs to find this guy a prostitute!
On the Houston, Texas television talk show "Frances and Friends," Donnie Swaggart, Jimmy and his wife Francis' only son, hosted a panel discussion "dedicated to discussing the controversy that had erupted in Houston, Texas, after the mayor's office subpoenaed sermons and other materials from a handful of pastors as part of a lawsuit anti-gay activists had filed in an effort to overturn a local antidiscrimination ordinance," People For the American Way's Right Wing Watch recently reported.

Donnie Swaggart told the audience that "LGBT activists are like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in that they want to destroy Christianity and behead its practitioners," Raw Story recently reported. "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."

Swaggart's rhetoric matches what fellow evangelist Pat Robertson said about the Houston subpoenas. "These people are terrorists, they're radicals and they're extremists," Robertson argued late last month.

As Raw Story's David Ferguson recently pointed out, "In spite of the apology, Swaggart's multi-million dollar empire was rocked to its foundations and never fully recovered. It was one of the most high profile falls from grace in the history of the U.S. evangelical Christian community, second only perhaps to the rape and corruption scandal that took down fellow televangelist Jim Bakker."

According to donnieswaggart.org, "Pastor and Spirit Filled Evangelist Donnie Swaggart of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is well known for his Bible based teaching and Fiery preaching style throughout the world! Whether teaching as the Co-Pastor of Family Worship Center Church or leading "Holy Spirit Night" Campmeetings, Brother Donnie has been blessed with the ability to reach people of all ages and walks of life with God's Word! Donnie's regular appearance on critically acclaimed SonLife Broadcasting Network programming proves to be a viewer favorite every day!

Just for the heck of it, I went to YouTube to get a sampling of Donnie Swaggart in action. Here's what I found in one of his "fiery" sermons: Donnie rages against the Philistine in Washington, the "spirit of the Anti-Christ in Washington who is trying to strip away the freedoms of this nation, that's trying to take away our rights to stand up and preach thus sayith the Lord. There's a Philistine in Washington that's doing everything in their power to euthanize us, abort us, and to put us under the debt of bondage of finances and the list could go on. And I'm not talking about the color of his skin. I'm talking about a man who has given his heart over to the controls of the power of darkness."

The good news? Donnie Swaggart is a pompous self-righteous idiot. The bad news? He has three children and seven grandchildren, one or more of whom are bound to carry the Swaggart Ministries into the far and distant future.




Display:
dare I say, "drama queen" preachers like Swaggart Jr and politicians (too numerous to count), would rather be seen by the public as potential martyrs rather than confirmed laughing-stocks. Being told to "get a grip" = beheading to these histrionic preachers.

by NancyP on Wed Nov 19, 2014 at 05:09:24 PM EST

I haven't heard any gay people talking about beheading or otherwise murdering Christians or anyone else. A lot of gay people ARE Christians, for that matter! Clergy, even. But there has certainly been a lot of rather overt talk of violence AGAINST gays from a number of far right preacher-men.

by phatkhat on Thu Nov 20, 2014 at 01:53:17 AM EST
Donnie Swaggart has learned at the knee of his odious father the ways of the Christian world as he sees it. So that it show the noxious memes continue on. What else would you expect from those who fleece flocks of the bigots they Shepard?

by Nightgaunt on Wed Nov 26, 2014 at 10:02:43 PM EST
Parent


. . . has one son, Gabriel, who is in his 30s, that serves as a youth pastor and is featured regularly in sermons at the church and youth rallys. Like many evangelical churches and ministries it is a family business so unless something drastic happens it should remain in family hands for a couple of more generations.

As to Jimmy's "I have  sinned" experience. It is now talked about and seen as a reason for people to be given a second chance.

by JerrySloan on Thu Nov 20, 2014 at 06:27:01 PM EST


Jimmy Swaggart was busted on Airline Highway, Highway 61. Not Airport Highway. Airline, so named because of how straight it was from New Orleans to Baton Rouge rather than curvy like the old Jefferson Highway that follows the river.

by maxfrisson on Sat Nov 29, 2014 at 07:12:17 AM EST


WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (375 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (203 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (65 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (149 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.