“If you vote for Mitt Romney you are voting for Satan.” —Bill Keller
Bill Keller is one of the most controversial religious figures in Tampa Bay … or Florida … or the country, for that matter. The conservative Christian evangelist has no formal pulpit, at least not in a brick-and-mortar church, but he does get his message out far and wide via a radio show, Live Prayer with Bill Keller, weeknights from 11 p.m. to midnight on WWBA-AM 820; his Daily Devotional, which gets e-mailed to more than 2-million people a day; and his website, liveprayer.com, which, with help from his staff, answers prayer requests via e-mail.
Keller is known for his incendiary rhetoric and unbending view of Bible-based morality. He believes homosexuality is an abomination, abortion is murder and … you can pretty much guess the rest.
I profiled Keller for this publication about five years ago and have maintained contact with him. He has always welcomed participating in hostile forums — the idea being that he should go where the sinners are. Creative Loafing being the haven for sinners that it is, Keller and I have decided to do a series of Q&A’s. It’s called The Devils Advocate Talks to Bill Keller. In case it’s not clear, I’ll be playing the role of the Devil’s Advocate.
Today’s topic:
Keller recently called out the IRS, which he says has investigated whether he breached his tax exemption by railing against political candidates during the ’08 campaign. The tax code bars religious institutions or their leaders from advocating for or against candidates. His main targets: Obama, McCain, Hilary Clinton and, especially, Mitt Romney, of whom he said, “If you vote for Mitt Romney you are voting for Satan..”
The St. Petersburg Times covered this story a few weeks ago. Check it out if you’d like more background.
The Devil's Advocate: You said, “If you vote for Mitt Romney you are voting for Satan.” Why?
Bill Keller: That got taken from a devotional I did, warning people that Romney is part of the Mormon cult.
This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2009.