# Jimmy Swaggart advocates killing people for looking at you the wrong way... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 19, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054 "2004-09-19T23:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/81 "2004-09-22T21:27:23Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > I suppose mentioning the two bears that assaulted the boys that sassed Elisha would be very much in bad taste! 😉 Oh… dear god… [wheeze] ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/82 "2004-09-22T21:43:08Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > I would love to go to the TBN amusement park, epecially with a gay pride t-shirt on (heh, heh). I’m a huge fan of the network and tune in pretty regularly for a good laugh at the more outrageous preachers. On Saturday mornings, they have children’s programming, and I have a mad crush on the lead on a show called **Gospel Bill**. It’s lame and preachy and apparently produced back in the 80s, but the lead actor playing Gospel Bill is one beefy born-again hunk. I used to watch [The Power Team](http://www.thepowerteam.com/) on a regular basis for reasons that had nothing to do with Jesus (although I was known to have called out the name a few times while watching). The PT leader, John Jacobs, sometimes hosted the chat show and it was by watching that I learned that sugar is evil because both “sugar” and “Satan” have five letters and start with S. Swaggart says he made a [mistake](http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/09/092204swaggart.htm), by the way, but stopped short of actually saying he was sorry. > [@](#): > > “It was a tongue-in-cheek statement best left unsaid. I won’t make it anymore,” Swaggart told the Times-Picayune in an interview. > > . . . > > Swaggart now says he was (using) killing as a figure of speech. “I’ve said it about other people, including other preachers,” he told the Times-Picayune. > > . . . > > But, Swaggart dismissed suggestions that his remarks could encourage violence against gays and lesbians. > > “Good gracious alive, it would be a long stretch of the imagination to come up with that,” the Baton Rouge-based preacher said. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/83 "2004-09-22T23:44:27Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > I used to watch [The Power Team](http://www.thepowerteam.com/) on a regular basis for reasons that had nothing to do with Jesus I always loved the basis of that ministry: the love of our lord Jesus Christ is roughly analagous to breaking bricks with my head. Praise the lord and pass the steroids (hee-haw hee-haw…) > [@Otto](#): > > Swaggart says he made a [mistake](http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/09/092204swaggart.htm), by the way, but stopped short of actually saying he was sorry. I guess the thunderous ovation he got from his crowd was also a mistake. If there’s one thing crossburning mongoloids like it’s a nice “figure of speech”. Perfect idea for a major ratings boost for both my favorite run-into-the-ground show and for my favorite whoremonging telefundie: _QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY: Assignment Swaggart_- he could not only recover somewhat from the PR blunder but finally get out of those damned ugly suits. Kyan could give his honey blonde mane a more contemporary look to appeal to skinhead youth, Jai could hook him up with some discreet “housecall” escort services so he won’t have to worry about getting pulled over by cops or ambushed by enemies with cameras, Thom could finally create a Fundie stage that wouldn’t make Liberace puke, Ted could weave Louisiana seasoning with a loaves-and-fishes or Last-Supper theme and Carson’s just the man to find out whether Jimmy really would kill a guy for making inappropriate comments or looks. I think it would be the Alpha and Omega of Must See TV. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2004, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/84 "2004-09-22T23:56:31Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > Ironically, [Eureka Springs, Arkansas is known for being a very gay-friendly resort town and home to a large [url=“http://www.eurekapride.com/”]Pride group](http://www.eurekasprings.com/alternative/) that host several events including Drag shows and Diversity Weekend. Yes, and what’s absolutely hysterical (I could probably google up a cite but I’ll leave that up to y’all- you can trust me on this one, though) is that a few years ago Anita Bryant opened a supper club there. About the same time a gay club opened called “Hurricane Anita’s” (named after a novelty song popular in gay clubs during Anita’s late 1970s gay-away-heyday) and people used to go to it thinking they were going to Bryant’s place. Needless to say to any other homo homies here, the star attraction was a drag queen based on Anita Bryant. There were lawsuits but the gay club was totally protected under Freedom of Speech, parody and various business ordinances. Sad & sorry epilogue: the real Anita’s place soon flopped like a spastic catfish on hot asphalt, causing her to relocate to a variety of places including Gatlinburg, Orlando and the ValHalla of 70s B-listers, Branson, MO [heh heh… Mo], majorly screwing employees and business partners everywhere she went [she made some major misassumptions about her audience, namely that she had one]. She was literally on a list that circulates in entertainment circles of "people **NOT** to do business with due to bad debts and just outright dishonest business practices. She turns up occasionally on religious TV, revivals and church singing engagements these days and that’s about it- she’s not just yesterday’s news, but in fact was in the nostalgia section of yesterday’s news. > [@Otto](#): > > I used to watch The Power Team on a regular basis for reasons that had nothing to do with Jesus My own “Fundie I’d Most Like to See Dancing in a Thong” crush is former _Growing Pains_ cutie Kirk Cameron (now the master of the quite impressive [Way of the Master](http://wayofthemaster.org/) website. Man, when he got born again the contractions never quit- he is _hardcore_ fundie. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/85 "2004-09-23T00:19:33Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Sad & sorry epilogue: the real Anita’s place soon flopped like a spastic catfish on hot asphalt, causing her to relocate to a variety of places including Gatlinburg, Orlando and the ValHalla of 70s B-listers, Branson, MO [heh heh… Mo], majorly screwing employees and business partners everywhere she went [she made some major misassumptions about her audience, namely that she had one]. She was literally on a list that circulates in entertainment circles of "people NOT to do business with due to bad debts and just outright dishonest business practices. That story makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/86 "2004-09-23T00:34:32Z")
Apologies for a one-post hijack, but in case anybody is interested [here](http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2002/04/28/State/Bankruptcy__ill_will_.shtml) is a long article on the life and pathetic modern times of Anita Bryant. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/87 "2004-09-23T01:05:38Z")
[He is very sorry for his sins](http://www.oldmencrying.com/images/jimmy.ram) (requires Realplayer) ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/88 "2004-09-23T01:18:02Z")
from the quote **Otto** provided: > [@](#): > > But, Swaggart dismissed suggestions that his remarks could encourage violence against gays and lesbians. > > “Good gracious alive, it would be a long stretch of the imagination to come up with that,” the Baton Rouge-based preacher said. “Great googly moogly! When I said I’d kill the queer for looking at me, I wasn’t encouraging violence against him! Where did you get _that_ from? All you liberal homo media types are twisting my words!” Geez, how can I possibly have even _less_ respect for Swaggart than I did at the start of this thread? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/89 "2004-09-23T01:23:56Z")
Poor initial information. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/90 "2004-09-23T01:32:23Z")
I have lived in the south for most of my almost 38 years and I’ve heard and used some pretty bizarre expressions (“dummer than a hundred chickens”, “she could snag lightnin’ outta clear blue sky”, “dryer than an old maid’s hatchet wound”, etc.), but I’ve never heard “I’ll kill 'em and tell God he died”, which he seems to think is an expression so common anybody should know it. I honestly have no doubts that he was saying it to be “funny” and not that he would literally advocate murder, but generally hate crimes aren’t funny things to joke about. In public. Before a very large crowd. In a church. (Swaggart has taken rappers to issue several times over their lyrics; if Eminem sang a song about bashing in the heads of Christians and claimed “artistic license… didn’t mean it, yo”, it’d be interesting to hear how Swaggart responded, just as it’d be interesting to see how much press this would get if it was aimed at blacks or Jews rather than at gays [and no, I am in no way denying or minimizing the fact that both groups have been the targets of violence by the ignorant].) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/91 "2004-09-23T04:20:50Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I always loved the basis of that ministry: the love of our lord Jesus Christ is roughly analagous to breaking bricks with my head. Praise the lord and pass the steroids (hee-haw hee-haw…). I always liked the breaking of the Louisville Sluggers while John Jacobs off to the side yammered on about how it was like breaking Satan’s arm. When I was going to school in Illinois I once drove to Peoria to see the PT live and in person. A life-changing experience it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/92 "2004-09-23T06:10:00Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Apologies for a one-post hijack, but in case anybody is interested [here](http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2002/04/28/State/Bankruptcy__ill_will_.shtml) is a long article on the life and pathetic modern times of Anita Bryant. Oh, this is gold: > [@](#): > > To this day, Dry said, his wife is misunderstood on the gay issue. > > “It’s not the gay people (she objects to), it’s the sin” of homosexuality, her husband said. “She tried to make that perfectly clear, but nobody would let it come out that way.” > > Bryant has friends and show business pals who are gay, Dry said. “I’ve known her all my life. She does not hate gay people.” _Riiiiiiight_. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/93 "2004-09-23T07:35:23Z")
Great-- now I’ve got _Fuck Anita Bryant_ running through my head. > [@](#): > > \*Fuck Anita Bryant > Who the hell is she? > Telling all them faggots > That they can’t be free > Throw that bitch in prison > Then maybe she’ll see > Just how much them goddamned homosexuals mean to me… > > They all… > Read and write > Fuck all night > Clean your fingernails > Help you dress > Play some chess > Lay you down some rails > Be your wife > Take your life in a jealous rage > > Who says we don’t need them homosexuals?\* Makes me feel vaguely wrong, but goddamn if it ain’t a toe-tapper. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/94 "2004-09-23T22:37:47Z")
> [@Priam](#): > > _looks soulfully into Wonko’s eyes_ Dunno, it just makes me uncomfortable… I don’t feel like a homophobic, homocidal guy, that wants to lie about my killin’ on TV and ask for cash so I can um… never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/95 "2004-09-24T07:41:32Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I just don’t get it. Why do guys like him get so het up about gays? Why so violent? I know it’s probably just cliched unprovable psychobabble, but every time I think about it I just can’t help wondering if maybe deep down they’re just an eensy bit lavender, no? Hmmmm. Do you suppose some of those ho’s was fee-male? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/96 "2004-09-24T16:31:14Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > You’re afraid of a [cartoon](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpopeye.html)[character](http://www.mtcnet.net/~bierly/blworst.htm)? (Not to be [confused with **Brutus**](http://www.everwonder.com/david/popeye/brutus.html).) Wait a minute, I’m confused. Is that \*\*our \*\*Brutus? I always suspected him of being a cartoon character. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/97 "2004-09-24T17:19:27Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I know it’s probably just cliched unprovable psychobabble, but every time I think about it I just can’t help wondering if maybe deep down they’re just an eensy bit lavender, no? Actually, a [1996 University of Georgia study](http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_fuel2.htm) indicates that it might not be that cliched or unprovable. (Scroll down a bit on link for results.) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/98 "2004-09-24T21:53:18Z")
> [@SimonX](#): > > How’d that lying to God stuff ever work out for Cain anyway? He got high marks for it. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/99 "2004-09-24T22:20:30Z")
Where’s that damned “Throw Tomato At Poster” button? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054/100 "2004-09-24T22:40:13Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > He got high marks for it. The whole thing resulted from his inferiority complex – he just had a hard time accepting that he wasn’t Abel. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jimmy-swaggart-advocates-killing-people-for-looking-at-you-the-wrong-way/265054.md?page=4)