856: Billy James Hargis

Billy James Hargis was an evangelist. He founded the Christian Crusade. He argued that conservatism is Christianity and Christianity is conservatism. He founded the American Christian College in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was an promoter of the Black welfare-state stereotype. He thinks Black people rioted because they were treated too well. He was a red-baiting, theocratic preacher who actively collaborated with the Klan and the John Birch Society. He was integral to the creation of the Radical Right not only through his political extremism, but also through the multi-pronged money-making empire of church, publishing, college, etc. and through his use of direct mail marketing. Richard Viguerie learned from him. It’s perfectly fine to blame Hargis for spam.

As president of American Christian College, he used his power to have sex with college students. Although they were the age of consent, (one was sixteen) they were not in a position to refuse the college president. His position of authority made this statutory rape.

Among the more outlandish events is the story of two students who got married. Hargis performed the ceremony. On their honeymoon, they learned Hargis had coerced sex with both of them.

In 1976, Time Magazine did a story about five people coming forward, four of them, men, to talk about how he preyed on them when they were in college. He was forced to resign and the college soon closed. Even though he was an anti-gay preacher, he justified his actions by citing the relationship between David and Jonathan. He also threatened to embargo them for life, ruining their prospects if they talked.

It is his power, his threats to make sure they were excluded from church events and school, that made these relationships predatory. This is sexual assault as it was extortion, not consensual.

• American Archive of Public Broadcasting: The Dissenters: Billy James Hargis Thirty minutes of racism and prosperity gospel.
• Island Press: The Strange Love of Billy James Hargis
• Strublog: Billy James Hargis and the “Bible Made Me Gay” Defense
• Religion: The Sins of Billy James