Jerry Falwell Dies

[legaltender]

Just broke. God has called him home. The Moral Majority enshrined family values in U.S. politics.

GOP presidential candidates courted his favor as spokesman for tens of millions of evangelicals.

Falwell said he did not mean to blame feminists, gays or lesbians for bringing on the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Falwell was an outspoken supporter of the Apartheid regime in South Africa back in the 1980's. He called Nobel Peace Prize winner and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu a phony. He later apologized for that remark and claimed that he had misspoken.

[stray]

Can't really fault him for his views on South Africa. I think he was totally spot-on. The place is a hellhole now.

[Copperhead]

I'm relieved that he will no longer be able to speak for the "Christian community." He was to Christians what Jesse Jackson is to African Americans.

[erinslion]

>>The Moral Majority enshrined family values in U.S. politics.<<

Hmm...

Bullshit.

[legaltender]

Falwell, on the record:

"I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!" - From Jerry Falwell’s book, America Can Be Saved

“If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made…. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.” - Falwell on Brown v. Board of Education

[/i]

www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=68ca0305-1a41-4e05-82f4-9d12a72cae00[/quote]

[stray]

Can't really say I disagree with the second point...but the first is utter bullshit.

[legaltender]

It should always be easier to open a massage parlor than a Christian school.

[fullphaser]

I say good riddance

[tcrashfx]

The Falwell Legacy
posted May 15, 2007

Jerry Falwell was a man of many contradictions. A man of Christ, he encouraged millions while providing a church and university legacy which daily builds the lives of thousands. Liberty University is a respected, accredited institution that will honor Falwell's legacy for generations.

Some of Falwell's comments were reprehensible, others wholly not befitting the voice and audience he earned for himself. Jerry's railing against the gay community was unconvincing, if not harmful to the actual way of life he wanted to promote and portray. I found many of Falwell's statements uncommonly sad, others hinting on the deranged.

His love of Christ was undeniable, sometimes clouded by a healthy focus on himself. His politics crossed his pulpit, and he used the First Amendment freely, loosely and often.

For all his faults, as if we have none, Jerry Falwell leaves a strong legacy of education and commitment to cause. His bombastic language and hurtful castigation are part of a much larger cultural estate his followers inherit, an intellectual endowment that will hopefully be a vital source of good in modern times.

chattanoogan.com/articles/article_107384.asp

[frayne56]

Lets hope he is reincarnated as an etheopian jewish lesbian with aids.

[Felix]

The man is dead, gone to join the majority, where we all are headed. He now matters not at all, but the ideas he served and promoted are worthy of continued attention.

I can think of few of his causes I would endorse, whoever continues to promote them.

I wonder why Pat Robertson wasn't given advance notice of Falwell's departure by the Almighty? At least as important an event as a hurricane.

(Now that I've talked him, up, watch Pat chime in on the subject)

[gridbug]

His love of Christ was undeniable

Balderdash.

It is his love of cash that was undeniable

Televangelism is all about fleecing the flock. If you disagree try actually watching the 700 Club and calculate the amount of time they spend asking for your money. Note especially the recurring message "if you send us your money your financial woes will end".

[RuneDeer]

gridbug said:

Try actually watching the 700 Club and calculate the amount of time they spend asking for your money.

That's not even the worst of it, Grid. You want to enrich them financially? Why, the (800) number is open for your use, 24/7. But if you want prayer, or counseling, or advice, which is what most of the viewers REALLY want (and need), nope, it's regular long-distance toll charges for you, sucka.

[BlackFox]

I am so glad that I was able to overcome the religious brainwashing of my youth.

When I was about 12 or 13 yrs old, my Mom was so proud of me because I had sat silently and attentively during the preachers sermon that morning. I looked directly at the preacher for the entire hour. The reason I remember it so well to this day is because that was the day I realized that it was all fairy tales.

Jerry Falwell was a charlatan. As are most other preachers. It's a money racket plain and simple. You can't turn on the news these days without hearing about the latest "fallen" servant of god.

I'll tell you this. If I DID believe in something as profound as a personal God, and believed that it was watching over my every move. I would be one towing the line motherfucker. And so would they, if they really believed.

[stray]

My name is Stray, and I approve Blackfox's message.

[Homebrew Dave]

I must be hallucinating. Stray has positive karma at the moment.

Dave

[Deleted]

> Note especially the recurring message "if you send us your money your financial woes will end".


How about sending the invoices and bills instead?

[Kordax]

I was never tempted to join the Moral Majority & never send Rev. Falwell $$$ -- for the most part, though, he was on the right side of the battle line where our domestic culture war is being fought....

[legaltender]

The "domestic culture war" came late. Falwell and early evangelical leaders were originally drawn to politics by the loss of tax-exempt status for their segregated schools, which, by the way, happened through a series of court rulings before Roe v. Wade was even a twinkle in Harry Blackmun's eyes. The Christian Right became a broad-based movement when abortion and gay bashing were ingested into the evangelical mix.

At least Republicans now won't have to do a little moral and ethical striptease for Jerry Falwell, at Liberty University events, in private, whenever, to vouch that he doesn't send his zombie hordes out to pull down a front-runner.

[Longshot! [ Saint ]]

Odd. His death has no impact on my life whatsoever.