Meet "Brother" Donny Reagan. He is pastor of the Happy Valley Church of Jesus Christ, located between Johnson City and Elizabethton, TN. He records and archives all his sermons on the church website. Last week, some as yet unidentified member of his congregation sent his sermon of April 23, 2013 to several internet news and opinion blogs, including Raw Story and Gawker.
In the seventeen minute sermon, he rails against interracial marriages and biracial children. Reagan says he doesn’t consider it right for white people and black people to marry. He calls such relationships “hybreeding.” So one might know this is not a slip of the tongue, he says it repeatedly.
Jump over the orange burning bush for some quotes and the video of his sermon, but if you go there, don't complain you have not been warned.
“Hybreeding, hybreeding, oh, how terrible, hybreeding. What white woman would want her baby to be mulatto, made by a colored man? Let’s stay the way God made us. I believe it’s right.”
He has released more statements, and about the kindest thing one can say about them is that they are 'race-baiting.' I have other thoughts about what they are, which are less kind. Local media contacted him and he did not back down. He says the main thing he regrets is that some folks might think his statements reflect badly on his congregation. No kidding!
He added that he would not conduct a marriage for an interracial couple. He added,
“This doesn’t have anything to do with race, I don’t think it would be right or fruitful.”
He says he knows who sent the video to media, but has not identified who he suspects sent it or why.
His archive of recorded sermons is available online. I have not viewed them, but one commenter wrote a response to the article today when it appeared in the Johnson City Press:
"View the website. He preaches against homosexuality much more than mixed marriages. He doesn't think women should vote from what I have read. Called women "dogmeat" in one sermon I viewed. Who does this? I thought we were somewhat passed all of this. It's as if we have traveled back 50 years. Maybe we do need to bring back "linching" and start with Mr. Reagan. I can't bring myself to call him pastor or preacher. Maybe Grand Wizard but not a man of God!"
We can thank that commenter for watching the sermons so you won't have to. But, if you have a large supply of industrial strength brain bleach handy,
here is the video of Bro. Reagan's rant from the pulpit.
UPDATE:
OOPS! The sermon is now gone. YouTube says they removed it due to a claim of "copyright infringement."
In fact, his sermons are all gone from the web site. A front page writer on another blog observed that the names of church officials appear to have been scrubbed as well.
However, this is the internet and nothing ever truly disappears. Several television news channels picked up the story and used clips from the sermon under "fair use." Here is how The Young Turks covered the story: