Welcome to Florida

Episode 15: Religion - Billy Graham, Jim Bakker and the Cult of Cyrus Teed

September 30, 2020 Chadd Scott Season 1 Episode 15
Welcome to Florida
Episode 15: Religion - Billy Graham, Jim Bakker and the Cult of Cyrus Teed
Show Notes

One of the many histories explored in Craig Pittman's great book on the state of Florida, "Oh, Florida!," is Florida's checkered history of religion. Billy Graham found his calling here. Martin Luther King was arrested here. Jim Bakker visited Florida for illicit sexual affairs.

Craig and Chadd Scott discuss these events on their way to being joined by this episode's guest, Lyn Millner, author of "The Allure of Immortality: An American Cult, a Florida Swamp and a Renegade Prophet." Millner's book recalls the Koreshan cult, which, among other things, believed the earth was hollow and that their founder, Cyrus Teed, was immortal.

Spoiler alert: he wasn't.