I really, really dislike those people.

I don't.

I'm surprising myself a little bit...I'm sitting here crying.

.

We used to get very wasted in College playing a drinking game watching Jim and Tammy. I don't remember all the rules but crying definitely meant a group drink.

More seriously, I never know what to think about her as a person, she came across as very nice, accepting and self-deprecating but basically her TV career with Jim was built on bilking little old ladies out of their social security money.

RIP Tammy Faye.

I've always thought the Bakkers were just small-town types who got caught up in what they thought was "okay"... and then they got busted for it. And then they got destroyed. They lived what we say we wish would happen to ALL those predators who take money from the hopeless. They got humiliated, their family fell apart, they did jail time and now as it turns out, one of them even died slowly of a horrible disease.

They were small-time, compared to Falwell, Robertson, and Roberts, but they seemed to take the karmic hit for the entire horrible enterprise that was religion on TV in the 80s. Especially now, it seems that way... Falwell died quickly, while he was fat and sassy, running his own town over there at Liberty University. I'm evil and I'll say it: I'd rather he'd died like Tammy Faye did, slowly, having his dignity and his life peeled off like layers of an onion, even after he recognized his wrong, which is what happened to her.

And of course Robertson still smiles his evil smile over the TV every night, and by the very fact that he's still alive pretty much PROVES there is no just god out there.

Tammy Faye on "Larry King Live" last week.

I agree with what BoringPostcards said and it all just makes me very fucking sad.

I was never really ever able to muster any amount of hate for her like i can for the rest of her christian cohorts.

The documentary about her, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye", was very interesting. I'm not sure if I believe it 100% (there's a lot of finger pointing; I imagine the people they blamed would tell a completely different story, and that the truth lies somewhere in the middle), but it is an interesting portrait of her life.

.

I found her very likable on Surreal Life 2.

A fleet of luxury cars, solid gold bathroom fixtures, etc., etc.? She knew she was stealing money, and she didn't stop until she had to.

*shrug* I might shed a tear for any one of thousands of innocent children who died today, but I don't give a fuck about a greedy liar who filled gullible people with fear (of Hell) and hatred (of non-Christians).

Fuck her and every other TV preacher. Leeches.

Might want to read up a bit, chuckdarwin. She wasn't typical, as noted in the cnn article BP links to. While I have no allegiances or love for the majority of their ilk, I will say that this sets her apart in my eyes:

Tammy Faye Messner has also been known as one of the few evangelical Christians who had the support of the gay community. She was one of the first televangelists to reach out to those with AIDS when it was a little-known and much-feared disease. In return, she told King in July, "When I went -- when we lost everything, it was the gay people that came to my rescue, and I will always love them for that."

She was able to bounce back after PTL folded. In 1996, she co-hosted the "Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show" with gay actor Jim J. Bullock. In 2000, a documentary based on her life, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. And in 2003, she appeared on The WB network's reality show, "The Surreal Life."

The older I get, the more important compassion and forgiveness become. None of us are perfect.

RIP.

Never followed Tammy or knew too much about her, other than the mascara.

A good friend "found god" watching Jim Bakker on television as a teen. She had a rough childhood, filled with sexual abuse and a mother that married six times. She found hope and comfort in Jim and Tammy.

her TV career with Jim was built on bilking little old ladies out of their social security money

$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I'm aware of her story... still doesn't make me shed a tear. Orphans in Darfur=pity; TFB=apathy.

I've got a question for folks who might know more about Jim and Tammy Faye's ministry than I do: how much did they play up the anti-heavy-metal, Satanic Panic kinda stuff?

Box, I don't remember them EVER doing that AT ALL. To be honest, I can't remember them being negative about ANYTHING.

We had this record our collection when I was a kid:

≡ Click to see image ≡

Most of my family on my dad's side are evangelical Christians (not the Phelps fundy kind -- the polite, Canadian type). I don't buy into any of the stuff they believe, but I also don't hate them for what they are. Jim and Tammy were scheisters back in the day, but I think Tammy Faye has done a lot of good in the intervening years. If nothing else, she was an advocate for unconditional love and acceptance in a time of increasing hatred and suspicion. For that, she has my eternal gratitude.

The antidote for hate is love and acceptance. Tammy Faye Messner, despite her faults, always seemed to me to be full of unconditional love for those around her, which is more than you can say about shysters like Pat Robertson.