Did We Get Tammy Faye Wrong?

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Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2021

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this third decade of the 21st century, we’ve seen a lot of religious scandals, with Christian leaders abusing their power and position. Too many. Nevertheless, still to this day when you say the words religious scandal—more often than not folks will think of two television personalities of the 1970s and ’80s: Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. The “Jim and Tammy” show was the basis of what became a massive ministry and theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina. It was called PTL, an abbreviation that stood both for Praise the Lord and for People That Love. Then came revelations that PTL had been massively and illegally misusing funds, diverting church funds to pay for their extravagant lifestyle and selling more lifetime vacations at the theme park than the theme park could possibly support. At about the same time, The Charlotte Observer also revealed that Jim Bakker had been engaging in extramarital sex and that ministry funds had been used for hush money. The Assemblies of God kicked them out of the denomination. Jim Bakker went to jail. During Jim’s imprisonment, the couple divorced. Tammy Faye, meanwhile, became a kind of campy celebrity, appearing in a VH1 reality TV show, hosting a syndicated talk show, and becoming a kind of gay icon. In the year 2000, seven years before her death, a documentary came out called The Eyes of Tammy Faye, narrated by drag queen star RuPaul. Last week, a biopic based on that documentary came out with the same title: The Eyes of Tammy Faye. It’s directed by Michael Showalter, stars Jessica Chastain, and is getting a fair bit of buzz for its highly sympathetic portrayal of Tammy Faye as a misunderstood and maligned Christian woman. Christianity Today’s Ted Olsen and Kate Shellnutt talked about Tammy Faye’s enduring appeal with Leah Payne, associate professor of theology at George Fox University and Portland Seminary. She is author of Gender and Pentecostal Revivalism, is working on a book on CCM for Oxford University Press and cohosts the Weird Religion podcast. What is Quick to Listen? Read more. Rate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts. Follow the podcast on Twitter. Follow this week's hosts on Twitter: Ted Olsen and Kate Shellnutt. Follow our guest, Leah Payne. Music by Sweeps. Quick to Listen was produced this week by Ted Olsen and Matt Linder. The transcript is edited by Faith Ndlovu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show,
0:06.0	the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.1	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at Apologeticsky.com.
0:26.6	In this third decade of the 21st century, we've seen a lot of religious scandals with Christian leaders abusing their power and position. Too many. Nevertheless, still to this
0:32.6	day, when you say the words religious scandal, more often than not, folks will think of two television personalities of the 1970s and 80s,
0:41.7	Jim and Tammy Faye Baker.
0:44.3	The Jim and Tammy show was the basis of what became a massive ministry in theme park
0:49.0	in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
0:51.6	It was called PtL, an abbreviation that stood both for praise of the
0:55.4	Lord and people that love. Then came revelations that PtL had been massively and illegally
1:02.6	misusing funds, diverting church money to pay for their extravagant lifestyle of the bakers,
1:08.6	and selling more lifetime vacations at the theme park than the theme park could
1:12.3	possibly support about the same time the charlotte observer also revealed that jim baker had been
1:18.0	engaging in extramarital sex and the ministry funds had been used for hush money the assemblies of god
1:24.0	kicked them out of the denomination, and Jim Baker went to jail.
1:28.9	During Jim's imprisonment, the couple divorced, Tammy Fay became kind of a campy celebrity, appearing in a VH1 reality TV show.
1:37.8	She hosted a syndicated talk show.
1:39.6	She became kind of a gay icon.
1:42.0	In the year 2000, seven years before her death,
1:44.9	a documentary came out called The Eyes of Tammy Faye,
1:47.9	narrated by Drag Queen Superstar Rupal.
	...

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