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| Tim LaHaye and his equally foul wife, Beverly LaHaye |
It is said that it is poor form to speak ill of the dead. But when the dead individual promoted hatred, sought to denigrate the lives of others, and peddled religious extremism and discrimination, it is not a time to mutter neutral platitudes. Therefore, I for one can say little positive about Christofascist extremist Tim LeHaye, who with his wife Beverly (a founder of the stridently anti-gay Concerned Women for America), did much to hold back LGBT rights and to maintain discrimination while enriching himself in the process. The Washington Post looks at the passing of this truly foul individual with a sugar coated piece. Here are highlights:
LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins wrote the 16-book series starting with “Left Behind” in 1995. With the theme of the end of the world and characters including the Antichrist, the books blended faith and fiction and sold more than 65 million copies.
Before he started writing fiction, LaHaye was highly active as a pastor. He founded San Diego Christian College and a dozen Christian grade schools and secondary schools, according to his ministry. He organized pastors to support political candidates including George W. Bush. He and his wife Beverly, the founder of the conservative organization Concerned Women for America, hosted a radio show together.
Time magazine called him one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in the United States
Given how much influence LaHaye’s books had in certain circles, and how many American homes contained his work, one of the titles on my reading list was called The Unhappy Gays: What Everyone Should Know About Homosexuality.I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of either social prescriptions or theology, other than knowing this book was, at one time, the go-to manual for a conservative family that discovered they had a gay child. I had no idea how bad it was. Dear God, it’s no wonder so many of these young kids killed themselves. In a literal sense, no hyperbole intended, the closest parallel I’ve ever read is the anti-Jewish literature in the buildup to World War II and the “anti-negro” writings of white southerners in the aftermath of the Civil War through the Civil Rights era. LaHaye is right up there with the pre-reformed George Wallace. Part of me wants to acquire his works and fund a museum somewhere to demonstrate how brainwashed by hatred and prejudice a person can be. This is an incredible example of irrational ideological animus.
Here are just a handful of excerpts from the book. Imagine being 14 years old and your parents making you read this because they found out your secret. The suicide rates make sense now. Keep in mind this was considered a compassionate Christian book on the market about the topic at the time. Writings like this were the reason we now have a generation of old Senators and pastors being caught with hookers and in public bathrooms while insisting they are straight. The psychological damage is profound.
According to Tim LaHaye, gay people may be demon possessed…
No doubt some homosexuals are indeed demon possessed. – Page 141
According to Tim LaHaye, gay people might be vulnerable to demons even if they are cast out…
Even after a demon is cast out, if indeed that is necessary, the individual still has to overcome the homosexuality that caused him to become so rebellious toward God that he made himself vulnerable to the demons in the first place. – Page 141.
Got it so far? Gay people are lying, self-indulgent, selfish, suspicious, angry, women-hating, possibly-demon possessed monsters who are unable to control themselves. The compassion is overwhelming.
According to Tim LaHaye, gay people are a disease comparable to a plant infection…
Homosexuality is a blight on humanity … – Page 150
According to Tim LaHaye, many parents would rather have their child die than turn out gay…
Many such parents would prefer the death of their child to his adopting the unhappy wretchedness of homosexuality. – Page 157.
[A]ccording to Tim LaHaye, even when they were murdered by friends and family, it’s kinda cool because having your head split open by rocks being thrown at you was really compassion…
[When talking about the death penalty for gays in the Old Testament] This may seem “cruel and inhuman treatment” by today’s standards, but our leniency has caused today’s widespread problems. This is not to suggest that Christians advocate the death penalty for today’s homosexuals, but I do have a question that needs consideration. Who is really being cruel and inhuman – those whose leniency allows homosexuality to spread to millions of victims who would not otherwise have been enticed into this sad and lonely life style, or those who practiced Old Testament capital punishment? – Page 107.
According to Tim LaHaye, you know that despite practically every gay ever telling you they’ve known since they were a child, just like straight people, it’s totally a choice for them to be gay because otherwise God is completely unfair when He said they should be murdered.
God would never have commanded the death penalty for homosexuality if a person was really “born that way.” All capital punishment was for crimes a person committed voluntarily. Homosexuality is no exception (Leviticus 20). – Page 187
According to Tim LaHaye, since it’s not okay to kill the gays anymore, people should still try to stop them from getting laws passed to protect them against housing or employment discrimination…
There is much more. Suffice it to say, if there is a Hell, LaHaye must have a special reserved seat. The world is a better place without LaHaye in it.
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