Thursday, June 16, 2005

Jimmy Swaggart gets his

Last fall, Jimmy Swaggart made comments on his show that were so hate-filled and violent that it is almost frightening. And I'm not sure what's worse -- his comments, or the fact that his congregation loudly applauded them.

Anyway, because the broadcast came out of Canada, a complaint was filed by someone living in Ottawa. Canada has laws regarding uttering of hate-speech on television. A ruling this week condemned Swaggart's remarks:

"The negativity was so visceral that Swaggart asserted that, despite his own religiosity, he would feel justified in killing the man and in lying to his God that the victim had simply died," the Council said.

"The problem of Swaggart’s language is, in a sense, exacerbated by the fact that he, as a religious figure, can be presumed to set an example for his community. It would, therefore, be easy for someone to infer that this might be the proper way for a Christian of this sect (or possibly of any sect) to respond to homosexuality. Repeating such terminology also contributes to the desensitization of the public with respect to gays and lesbians and even provides the audience with regrettable and negative terms with which to deal with this identifiable part of the community."

The television station (Omni 1) apologized publicly back when it happened, but Swaggart never has. He "regrets" the comment, but doesn't apologize for it. What does that say about this faux Christian?

No comments: