Jimmy Swaggart’s apology for saying he’d kill a gay man who looked at him the wrong way:
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.”
If it’s an insult? Ask Matthew Shepard and countless others who are indeed dead because someone took Swaggart’s advice. I’m not going to belabor the point because most evangelical Christians do not share Swaggart’s violent hatred. But isn’t it amazing that someone allegedly representing the Gospels of Jesus Christ would advocate murdering an already despised minority? It seems to me that a central tenet of Jesus’ message was that it is precisely the outcasts of society who are worth treasuring and loving. Yet it is a central tenet of the Christian right that the marginalized be marginalized and discriminated against still further. That is one of the many reasons they are neither Christian nor right.
The Dish 