tecoyah

Evangelist Swaggart Apologizes for Remark

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart apologized Wednesday for saying in a televised worship service that he would kill any gay man who looked at him romantically.

A complaint was filed with a Canadian broadcasting group, and Swaggart said his Baton Rouge-based Jimmy Swaggart Ministries has received complaints from gay groups over the remarks made on the Sept. 12 telecast.

In the broadcast, Swaggart was discussing his opposition to gay marriage when he said "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," Swaggart said to laughter and applause from the congregation.



On Wednesday, Swaggart said he has jokingly used the expression "killing someone and telling God he died" thousands of times, about all sorts of people. He said the expression is figurative and not meant to harm.

"It's a humorous statement that doesn't mean anything. You can't lie to God - it's ridiculous," Swaggart told The Associated Press. "If it's an insult, I certainly didn't think it was, but if they are offended, then I certainly offer an apology."

Audio recordings of the Sept. 12 statements have circulated on gay-themed Web sites.

One complaint was sent to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, a self-regulating industry group that enforces broadcast standards, after a Toronto television station broadcast the service, said Ann Mainville-Neeson, the group's executive director.


Cheryl Jacques, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign, which represents homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people, said Swaggart should preach equality for all Americans.

"Apologies don't discourage violence - action does. We hope that he takes action," Jacques said. "His language only encourages an environment where hate crimes occur."

Swaggart was a popular television evangelist during the 1980s until a 1987 sex scandal involving a prostitute that he met in a seedy New Orleans motel. Swaggart never confessed to anything more than an unspecified sin. A few years later, he was stopped by police while driving in California with a suspected prostitute in his car.

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Jimmy Swaggart Ministries: http://www.jsm.org/exploreJSM.cfm

Human Rights Campaign: http://www.hrc.org/

© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT


And Thus......we have the perfect example of what is wrong with todays christian church. Would anyone actually consider allowing a child to listen to this man.....I really hope not.

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

the_marq

Next time a Christian knocks on my door on Saturday morning trying to sell me pamphlets I am going to kill him and tell the police he died.

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The Truth:

Johnny Cash could have kicked Bruce Lee's ass if he wanted to.

#3 in a series

JumpinJesus

I must not have the correct sense of humor.


Apparently his audience does.

If I were Jon Stewart or Bill Maher, I would loop that statement with an intersplicing of his tearful apology after he was caught yanking his sausage with a prostitute.

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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

SecretMethod70

well, 1) I don't condone these statements (of course) and so-called "Christians" like him sicken me, but 2) I don't think he meant that he would LIE about it, but that he would be proud of it so much so that he would not hide it from God. Either way, he's a sorry excuse for a Christian and a human being. I'm thankful that most Christians and people of any religion have much more sense in their heads than people like this.

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Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

OFKU0

And revealing he was doing the naughty with a tranny. Doh. Heaven forbid.

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" In Canada, you can tell the most blatant lie in a calm voice, and people will believe you over someone who's a little passionate about the truth." David Warren, Western Standard.

guthmund

Swaggart and men of his ilk are a festering boil on the backside of humanity. It has nothing to do with Christianity other than that organized religion seems to draw these boobs like flies to shit. The do very little but propogate hatred and monger fear. They tap into humanity's baser set of emotions and feed off it. They sow discord and hostility out of one side of their mouths and preach humility and forgiveness out the other.

I think beloved Brother Jimmy got a little carried away and a little too comfortable while up on the pulpit and got caught with his pants down around his ankles. (again ) Did he mean it? Probably to an extent. He would like to think he would "kill him and tell God he died," but in reality poor impotent Brother Jimmy would probably do a little stutter job, sweat profusely and then invite the ol' boy in for a snack. Fucking hypocrite.

There is a lot more to say about such sleezeballs, but I think I'll just agree with SM70 and say he is sorry excuse for a Christian and an even sorrier excuse for a human being.

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No signature. None. Seriously.

Fire

I have friends who are christian-

people who leave the judging to god

people who do not suggest killing those who are different

people who believe that god is love, not hate

they are sadly few

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Thought the harder, Heart the bolder,
Mood the more as our might lessens

tropple

...And the fanatics came, with words of god on their lips, and evil in their hearts....

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+++++++++++Boom!

Menoman

Christians to the extend of him annoy the living fuck out of me. Ones who will condemn you to hell rather than love you for who you are, based on your religion, people just like him.


Although people who take this politically correctness bullshit annoy me even more.

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Glory's Sun

once again Secret said what I was going to say before I had a chance

really though, this is a pretty ignorant statement. for him to say that would make it seem as though he doesn't really understand his religion at all.

Cynthetiq

not worth my time... or keystrokes.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Gertie

It's so easy to apologize.

mo42

I think I'd have to listen to the audio to be able to tell just how much he was joking or not. If he had the right inflection, it might have been clear it was a joke. Of course, I really dislike it when extremests end up being the representatives of my religion.

Drider_it

Cheryl Jacques, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign, which represents homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people, said Swaggart should preach equality for all Americans.


Ok granted the dude is ancient.. and granted as a christian you are supposed to view the situation of a gay person as you love the person as you love everyone created by god, yet you with a passion hate the sin.

as a christin one can never preach equality for all americans. why is this. going with a christian bible you cant. america as a whole is against the bible. abortions, gay marrages and activities.. in the old testiment, god blasted a city off the earth.. sodom and gamorha off the earth for thier activities that went against god. yet i could careless if they get married and shack up. The end justifies the means. one can talk about it all they want, in the end we will all see who was right. heh. now if a polition did this i could see him speaking of equality, or on a issue of black and white americans.

i for one would never say such a thing, nor would i allow'd it to be said. granted im from louisiana and yes i do know the man, having met him 5 times in my life and sat down and talked to him for over an hour before. in some people thier views over time and age get clouded and they take the part where you love everyone and hateing the sin they do, to hateing the people along with the sin.. which in this case is wrong.

note: aside from being a christian, i dont usally toss my thoughts in a thread like this.. i agree with the statements mostly aside for that line. not trying to start anything just pointing out what the christian bible says.

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It means only one thing, and everything: Cut. Once committed to fight, Cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one. Cut. The lines are a portrayal of the dance. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut with certainty. Cut decisively, resoultely. Cut into his strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don't allow him a breath. Crush him. Cut him without mercy to the depth of his spirit. It is the balance to life: death. It is the dance with death. It is the law a war wizard lives by, or he dies.

Macheath

WTF. That doesn't even make sense.

God is omniscient.

"Hey God, thought you should know...I killed a man and he died."

YES, I KNOW. I AM OMNISCIENT. GO AWAY."

"Yessir indeed God...shot him in Reno just to watch him die."

GOD ->

Bill O'Rights

I've already spent more time reading this than what the man is worth.

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"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

"Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus

It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

Lasereth

I think everyone is forgetting the fact that <B>he was joking</B>. Does that make the statement funny? No. Does it make it OK to say? No. Does he really mean what he said? No. There's a difference between saying it and meaning it. He shouldn't have said it, but at least he didn't mean it.

I can't stand it when people say they hate homosexuals, and this would be no different...except for the fact that he was joking and actually admitted to using the phrase in different situations. It's a dumb thing to say on national TV, but people are acting like he actually meant the statement and would kill a gay man if he looked at him like that. <B>He actually said the statement was preposterous and that telling God a lie is stupid</B>.

-Lasereth

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

waltert

can we all call tele-christian stations to heckle them? I was going to do it once, but lost my nerve.

really, cant you find a productive hobby? put 10% of your money into a mutual fund...tele-jesus told me that if I gave him money, he would cure my cancer, etc.

I have to beleive these tele christians are just out to rob the ignorant and are atheist...at least then I can respect what they're doing.