Arkansas-based minister Mike Keller, who is associated with the Duggar family, is currently in the hot seat. This follows the emergence of clips on the internet showing him delivering a wild, wild sermon that is illogical and ignorant at best and steeped in racism at worst.
Keller is the father of Anna Duggar and the father-in-law of convicted pedophile Josh Duggar, who is currently serving a 12.5-year sentence for possessing CSAM. Showing his poor judgment, Keller previously penned a letter to the judge, pleading for leniency towards Duggar. He described him as “very gentle, kind and polite to everyone” and cited an instance where Duggar covered half the cost of a transmission repair for a customer at his dealership as a testament to his peaceful nature.
For a quarter of a century, Keller has volunteered in the prison system and occasionally performed guest sermons. During one such sermon at Fairpark Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, Keller recounted how he was advised by a pastor friend not to attend the January 6 rally at the Capitol building, citing it as a “trap.”
Heeding this advice, Keller says that he decided not to attend and then draws a wonky parallel between the wisdom of Republicans not protesting at the rally, to enslaved black folks in the 19th century not protesting either.
“Folks, I want to tell you; it is really simple. I’ll show you how to change America.”
A hundred-fifty years ago, or 200 years ago when the blacks were slaves. Did they ever go to Washington D .C. and have a rally 200 years ago to protest against slavery? Did they? No. What did they do? Well, a lot of good people in the plantations would say, ‘hey, it’s wintertime. Let’s let us help build a church for you, dear folk.’ And they loved them and taught them how to read so they could read the Bible. And here’s what the blacks did about 150 years ago.They humbled themselves. They prayed. They sought God’s face and they turned from their wicked ways. And God made slavery illegal through several white Presidents, right? It worked, didn’t it? They didn’t protest.
Maybe there’s a place for protest. I don’t know. But that was a wise pastor that warned his flock (not to attend the rally)”
There’s nothing to love there any everything to hate. Keller spins a revisionist tale where “good people on the plantations,” presumably slave owners, benevolently built churches for the enslaved Black community and taught them to read – specifically, the Bible. This narrative conveniently overlooks the well-documented reality that enslaved Black people were usually forbidden to learn to read, were generally denied their preferred religious practices, often had to construct their own living spaces, many that were in shambles, and were to the man terrorized and abused by their ‘Masters.’
Futher, his comments about how slaves didn’t protest but rather were rescued by Presidents afte rthey ‘turned from their wicked ways’ ignored the influential Black abolitionists who used their words and actions to fight for change, the courageous efforts of Black Underground Railroad conductors who risked their lives to help others escape to freedom, and the countless individuals who participated in slave rebellions across the U.S.
Perhaps most ignorantly, Keller also glossed over the fact that evil and abominable slave owners typically denied their human property the basic right of free movement and to travel at will- and were not so keen to let their slaves travel off to Washington to rally and protest their own captivity.
h/t to itsrowsdower on Tiktok for the original video.
