Billy James Hargis (1925-2004) is one of those people who was ahead of his time and when the time came that his ideas were more widely adopted, he had long fallen from grace.
A brief discussion of 20th century American fundamentalism: fundamentalists made a big powerplay with the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial but the embarrassment of the trial lasted for decades. Rather than deal with mainstream society, from the aftermath of the trial until the birth of the modern Religious Right in 1979, fundies tended to focus on their own counter-institutions that shieded their children and converts from the corrupt mainstream American society.
There were some exceptions such as Hargis and preacher Carl McIntire (1906-2002) who had an overt political agenda in post-World War II America. Hargis acted like a man possessed, his Christian Crusade organization began in the wake of Joe McCarthy's death. He also created a sophisticated media empire that included a radio show and a slew of publications. Hargis held a much-publicized speaking tour with retired military man Edwin Walker, the inspiration for Jack D. Ripper from the film Dr. Strangelove.
By the 1970's, Hargis was feeling his oats with his media empire, megachurch, and his bible college featuring The All American Kids Choir. The 1970s looked to be promising time for Hargis to address the depravity of the remnants of the '60s counterculture and new threats to the Christian American Way of Life such as punk rock, Maude, and shag carpet.
"...[B]oys let their hair grow like a woman's, dress in clothing that we used to relate to tramps and bums, and engage in permissiveness on the lowest possible bestial level..." As luck would have it, soon after Hargis wrote those words, some interesting events occurred. Hargis had presided over the wedding of two of his Bible college students, who on their wedding night confessed to each other that each was not chaste at the time of the wedding. What made this particularly odd was that both bride and groom had been deflowered and defiled by the same person: The Reverend Hargis. It also came out that Hargis diddled members of his college choir, "The All-American Kids." When confronted about his penchant for buggery, Hargis took the biological determinism approach to homosexuality, attributing his misbehavior to "genes and chromosomes." Hargis' college closed in 1977 and when the modern religious right emerged, despite his groundbreaking efforts, Hargis was considered persona non grata.
Nevertheless, Hargis trudged on through the 1990s. The Museum has an impression collection of Hargis' newletters, letter, and periodicals from the '50s through the '90s. Hargis' Christian Crusade newspaper was blasting the immorality of the Clinton administration, echoing other higher profile porcine preachers of the religious right: Jerry Falwell and John Hagee.
Reuther was a native of Wheeling, West Virginia. Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery and The Museum are located in the Wheeling metro area. When Trump came to speak in Wheeling, the police closed off the statue of Reuther. I thought that was unfortunate because I believe many of the people attending the rally could have benefited from visiting the statue so I did some performance art with the statue (read the thread here).
The
Museum of Weird and Demented Religious Tracts is a project of Les
Zazous Postmodern Art Galley of Bellaire, Ohio. Read the Welcome
Statement of The Museum here.
Contributions of weird tracts to the museum can be made by mail: send your weird tracts to Les Zazous Postmodern Art Gallery 3475 Guernsey Street, Bellaire, Ohio 43906.
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