When I was in college in the late 1980s, when my class on modern religions took a side turn into discussing televangelism, the professor arranged for a field trip to the Fort Mill, SC location of PTL Ministries. It was a couple years after “the fall” of Jim Bakker (due to an affair with Jessica Hahn and bilking millions of dollars from supporters), and walking around the campus of Heritage USA was eerie in its emptiness.

And now it has come to light that an Atlanta businessman will have 15,000 hours of PTL broadcasts up for grabs at an auction taking place next month. Supposedly valued at $8 million, some have proposed that the tapes be digitized and made available on DVD or re-broadcast on TV.

Hmmm…I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Is there really a market for a boxed set of shows featuring a fradulent televangelist asking for money to build a theme park when we all know where that ends up?