Televangelist Paul Crouch, founder of TBN, dies

[defacto7]

<<< Warning... This is a probably my most spiteful post ever. >>>

< Cross posted from the other death announcement >

Paul Crouch and his tax free business plus the likes of Pat Robertson have done America a huge disservice over the years. In the long run, I would venture to say they are the largest single cause of the dumbing down of America. Since they started this massive scam, TBN, The Bakers, and The Christian Broadcasting network among others have bought the souls of millions and filled them with RW economic BS even before Reagan was president. I think they actually paved the way for Ronald Reagan and his economics from hell. They started the media mission of making gullible people stupid, fearful, and ecstatically dependent on their ideology of wealth and the false hope of the second coming of Christ with the fear of Armageddon and the salvation of the rapture and the thousand year reign of Christ on earth.... just to make their lucre.

It takes a lot of delusion to create an empire that could destroy a nation. I have no more honor for the likes of these people than I do the likes of Hitler.

[RandySF]

1. Crouch loved right wing dictatorships.

"During their 30-year campaign to extend the TBN's signal to the farthest reaches of the globe, the Crouches have cozied up to some of the most repressive governments in recent history. According to Alfred Ross, director of the Institute for Democracy Studies, a New York-based think tank that tracks anti-democratic movements worldwide, in 1988, Crouch met with the president of South Africa's apartheid government, P.W. Botha, to finalize a deal for a TBN affiliate in South Africa. That same year, the TBN completed work on its station in El Salvador, where Crouch had traveled frequently and associated with officials from the "Treasury Police," which oversaw the country's death-squad operations.

And as Sara Diamond reported in her 1987 book, Spiritual Warfare, in order to get the TBN's signal into the Middle East in the early 1980s, Crouch forged a close relationship with Israel's Likud Party government, donating millions of dollars to it for unspecified purposes. Crouch also held a joint press conference in 1982 with President-elect Bashir Gemayel, leader of the Israel-backed, right-wing Phalangist militia, which massacred thousands of Palestinian refugees during Lebanon's civil war."


I personally remember having to watch that crap as a kid when Crouch would repeatedly deny the existence of apartheid in South Africa. Sayanora Paul. It wasn't nice to know ya.

[defacto7]

2. Hear hear!

Great comment!

If there was a hell it would be burning brighter tonight. I am the most angry when people just let this stuff slide right by as if it's just the practice of religious freedom. It is the undermining of America and meddling in foreign affairs. I'd say they have done a pretty good job of it.

[Major Nikon]

3. Prior to TBN there was hard resistance from prominent Republicans to ally with the religionists

Most notably Goldwater.

Now the term "intellectual Republican" is an oxymoron. This isn't just a coincidence. This is why so many modern Republicans are unwilling and incapable of compromise. When one is convinced god is on your side there is no higher authority one can appeal for arbitration.

[onager]

4. Damn! The Xmas specials just won't be the same...

Like most American Fundie orgs, TBN always goes way over the top during the Xmas season.

Which of course, is comedy gold for us atheist couch 'taters. (I probably shouldn't mention that I'm writing this while catching up on the ID Channel "Wives With Knives" marathon...)

During Xmas, Paul and Jan Crotch always took the TV audience on a tour of the TBN gift shop. I caught one of those and nearly fell off the couch laughing. Jan looked heavily medicated and kept missing her cues from Paul, who was desperately urging the masses to Buy Something. Paul was clearly having trouble keeping his temper with her. At one point, I thought he was going to bop Jan upside the head with the Life-Size Baby Jesus ($89.95, all major credit cards accepted.)

Then there's the house muscican, Dino - a pianist who looks like the bastard love child of Liberace and Keith Richards. Right down to the sequined outfits and diamond rings on every finger. Whenever Dino was accompanied by a children's choir, I thought he looked like a walking Amber Alert.

[defacto7]

5. LOL

I just about soiled myself when you brought up Dino. Ha, he's one pitiful plagiarism of Lee if I ever saw one. But one thing the Christian television and music industry is better at than anyone else if copying secular performers and music. No one can plagiarize an entertainment idea like those crooks... and they get away with it. It goes back to at least Pat Boone who has always been a favorite of TBN.

[onager]

7. Pat's "Metal" album pissed them off

"In A Metal Mood," that is. Pat covered songs by Metallica et. al., and appeared on the cover in black leather, chains and fake tats.

When the Fundies blasted him, at first Pat claimed it was all a joke. Then he caved in completely, begged forgiveness, and promised to never challenge their non-existent senses of humor again.

Speaking of Pat, I just recently caught the Little Richard biopic. TV movie that was made quite a few years ago but I had never seen it.

There's a long, hilarious sequence about Pat Boone. Starts with Little Richard hearing Pat's version of "Tutti Frutti" for the first time, asking "What the hell is THAT?" Then cuts between Little Richard screaming, sweating and cutting up on stage, and ol' Pat standing still, snapping his fingers and crooning Little Richard songs.

Text at the end of the movie cracked me up: "Little Richard continues to have a devout belief in God. And pancake makeup." (They actually named the specific brand of makeup, which I forgot.)

[defacto7]

8. Yep, I saw that... it was hilarious.

Just the Pat Boone beat was a killer, like you're gonna tap your foot on the 1 and 3 beat. That makes it sound like a Sousa march.

[TxDemChem]

6. Okay, now I HAVE to check out these shows

and similar channels. The believers in my family despise them, so this is all new to me. I think I'll get a bottle of wine and giggle my head off watching some old clips on YouTube.