The father of Christian reality television star Anna Duggar has drawn scathing criticism on social media for comments he made about slavery during a recent sermon at a suburban Fort Worth church.
Speaking at Fairpark Baptist Church in Edgecliff Village, Mike Keller compared far-right extremists who attacked the Capitol in January 2020 to enslaved Black people, who he said were freed by God because they did not protest.
“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?” Keller asked church members in late June. “No. What did they do?”
Keller, who gave the sermon as a guest pastor, continued to say “good people on the plantations” helped enslaved Black people by teaching them how to read and building their churches. He was introduced by the church’s head pastor, David Waller, who is married to Keller’s daughter, Priscilla.
“Here’s what the Blacks did about 150 years ago,” Keller said. “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. It worked, didn’t it? They didn’t protest.”
In a stunning sermon, a minister says enslaved people never rallied in DC to protest slavery. Rather, they relied on plantations’ “good people” to teach them to read the Bible so they could repent and end slavery. Mike Keller is Anna Duggar’s father. v/c: @itsrowsdower on TikTok. pic.twitter.com/yijrDcQh8g
— David Heath (@davidhth) June 27, 2023
Clips of Keller’s sermon have circulated on social media, including Twitter and TikTok, where they have sparked outrage and ridicule.
“This is why we need Black history in school,” one commenter wrote on Twitter. Another posted, “Gee, I wonder why slaves could not just leave the plantations to go to DC.”
In 2008, Keller’s daughter, Anna, married Josh Duggar from the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, which featured the expansive Arkansas family and its devout Baptist theology.
The show was canceled in 2015 amid reports that the eldest child and Anna’s husband, Josh Duggar, had sexually assaulted some of his sisters. Josh Duggar is currently in prison in Seagoville for possession of child pornography.
Fairpark Baptist, which describes itself as a Christ-centered, biblically based church, did not return a phone call seeking comment Monday.
