Jerry Fallwell, Dead

[Lucy 0]

Did any of you listed to Talk of The Nation today on NPR? They brought on Ralph Reed and some other fundamentalist and all these people were calling in and lamenting his death "what a good man, blah, blah, blah".

I am completely offended that NPR, my main source of news (who I donate to, by the way) actually devoted 30 minutes of air space to this devisive,ignorant-agenda-pushing, money hungry, uber-conservative, hateful homophobe who not only claimed that 9/11 was god's way of punishing homosexuals and abortion advocates, but also preached that global warming is a myth!

It kills me that as soon as someone dies, everyone suddenly has to be so respectful of him. Remeber Ronald Regan's death? Everyone was droning on and on about what a great leader he was. Give me a break. When Bin Laden dies (if he hasn't already) are we going to hear everyone say "oh, but he was such a charismatic leader!"?

Dead or not, Falwell was an a**hole. I'm not dancing on his grave or anything, but the world can do without religous extremists of all kinds.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Lucy...

Great post.

I don't think people realize how much the Falwell's of the world push atheism. People look at people like him and realize there isn't a chance in the world they could believe that hateful bilge. They start taking a long hard look at how people like him can so easily justify hate and greed and they walk away from their belief.

Yet, now the whackos will be coming out from the woodwork to tell us all how wonderful his brand of hate is.

Very odd.

(Again, whacko's meaning the extreme fundie types, not the normals.)

[marjon9 6]

I don't think people realize how much the Falwell's of the world push atheism. People look at people like him and realize there isn't a chance in the world they could believe that hateful bilge. They start taking a long hard look at how people like him can so easily justify hate and greed and they walk away from their belief.

That's the silver lining. And maybe it can help Lucy to not feel too bad about NPR and Ralph Reed. When NPR does this, thousands more people learn the truth and get angry. It can be a good thing.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

That's the silver lining. And maybe it can help Lucy to not feel too bad about NPR and Ralph Reed. When NPR does this, thousands more people learn the truth and get angry. It can be a good thing.

Not sure I can explain my feelings well but I'll give it a shot.

I'm guess I don't think that is the best way for people to leave their faith. There are lots of people that know deep down there is no God but it gives them a little peace in that they are not in this world all alone so they go with the motions. My problem certainly isn't individual spirituality, my issue is with the harm organized religion does. There is a huge difference.

I don't want people looking at their beliefs the way I look at (my religous upbringing) Catholicism, with utter disgust. I would hope that if they do walk away, they focus on the positives instead of it being such a negative experience and feeling like they had been duped big time.

There are more gentle ways for people to reach the point of ... well, leaving their religion.

[Lucy 0]

Thanks, Bubble. I couldn't agree with you more.

I don't think people realize what a significant negative impact Jerry Falwell had on this country. He has emboldened the conservatives in this country to embrace hate disguised as "god's love". George Bush owes his presidency to Falwell because there weren't any "Christians" in politics before Falwell initiated the Moral Majority.

Not to mention all the parents who now refuse to let their children watch Teletubbies because they are afraid they will all turn gay.

[Lucy 0]

Mark,

I still love my NPR. I'm sure there were many other anti-Falwell listeners like me, trying not to crash their cars while they angrily re-dialed the 800 number over and over again so they could get on the air to voice their opinions.

At least we don't have to hear about Larry Birkhead anymore.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Not to mention all the parents who now refuse to let their children watch Teletubbies because they are afraid they will all turn gay.

Yeah, not a lot of critical thinking skills in action there, eh? :youcandothis:

There are those with a strong faith, those who are questioning, and those who lack belief. The Falwell's of the world force the middle group to make a decision. Given more time and a gentle approach, they might stay with their faith. Thus, Falwell types increase the ever growing atheist community.

It still boils down to hate in the name of the xtian God. And people think this is a good thing? I don't get it. Unless people just want to hate and the Falwell types give them permission to judge and hate in the name of religion. I don't know.

[green 6]

Falwell was a gasbag.

[AshevilleEddie 14]

Believe it or not, I was actually somewhat saddened to hear of his death this morning. In the last couple of years I had heard him make remarks that led me to believe he was lightening up on his anti-Gay rhetoric. I had hoped he would come to his senses and wield as much influence in changing the far right's attitudes as he once did to firmly entrench them. I suppose now we'll never know...

[AshevilleEddie 14]

Not to mention all the parents who now refuse to let their children watch Teletubbies because they are afraid they will all turn gay.

HAHAHAHA!! I still have my miniature Tinky Winky I bought after those ridiculous proclamations!!

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

HAHAHAHA!! I still have my miniature Tinky Winky I bought after those ridiculous proclamations!!

Almost makes you wonder if Tinky Winky stock didn't go up during that time thanks to Falwell! HA!

[Lucy 0]

"Believe it or not, I was actually somewhat saddened to hear of his death this morning. In the last couple of years I had heard him make remarks that led me to believe he was lightening up on his anti-Gay rhetoric. I had hoped he would come to his senses and wield as much influence in changing the far right's attitudes as he once did to firmly entrench them. I suppose now we'll never know..."

Eddie, I think that really just goes to show how open-hearted you are, which is a word that I would not use to describe Falwell. I don't agree with you, but I respect your input.

By the way, how was your surgery today? I guess I should check out the GLBT forum and see. At least you have your Tinky Winky to keep you company while you recover!

[Lucy 0]

Oh wait, it's tomorrow, isn't it? I'm sending you all my best!

[anonemouse 1]

Just think, he created his own legacy. He'll forever be known as "that guy who protested against the teletubby" and "the guy who blamed 9/11 on the gays, liberals, and pro-lifers." Here's a CNN article on him:

Falwell's legacy: faith, hate or Teletubbies?

POSTED: 8:20 p.m. EDT, May 15, 2007

var clickExpire = "-1"; By Jonathan Mandell

CNN

Adjust font size:

(CNN) -- "When I have children one day," Samantha Krieger of Dallas, Texas, wrote to CNN.com, "they will know of the legacy that Dr. Jerry Falwell left."

But what will that legacy be?

To Krieger, who had personal connections to Falwell -- she attended the college he founded; he officiated at her wedding; her husband was his nurse -- the evangelist "was a great leader and hero."

Victoria Kidd of Winchester, Virginia, believes the exact opposite: "The damage he has done to the Christian faith is immeasurable," she wrote to CNN.com

Others would prefer to think that he has no legacy at all.

"He should be erased from every history book and media story," wrote Brian Pippinger of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Jerry Falwell was the evangelical minister who founded the Moral Majority, the Christian right political movement, in 1980. He died Tuesday at age 73, and it's clear from the differing assessments of his legacy that he was a controversial figure.

Matt Foreman, head of the National Lesbian and Gay Task Force, calls Falwell "a founder and leader of America's anti-gay industry. His lasting legacy will be the polarization of the American electorate and the rise of Christian evangelicals as a political force in American politics."

Gene Mims, a trustee of Liberty University, which Falwell founded as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971, says he "pulled us all towards faith." More narrowly, Mims says that Falwell's founding of the university will be his specific, lasting legacy. "For the past 10 years, that was his focus."

That seems to be what the Rev. Billy Graham believes, as well. "His accomplishments went beyond most clergy of his generation," Graham said in a statement. "Some of my grandchildren have attended, and are attending, Liberty University. "

Susan Friend Harding, a professor of anthropology at the University of California Santa Cruz, studied Falwell and his movement beginning in the 1980s, culminating in a book published in 2000, "The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics."

"I see him as a major figure in American political and religious history," says Harding, who considers him the principal leader who brought fundamentalists back into the mainstream of society. "Jerry Falwell led fundamentalism out of political and cultural exile in the 1980s. He did so most famously as the leader of the Moral Majority in 1980s, but also through his national radio and TV ministry, Liberty University and countless sermons, campaigns, rallies, speeches, publications, broadcasts and debates over his 50-year career as a preacher. Under his leadership, fundamentalists transformed themselves from a marginal, anti-worldly separatist people into a visible and vocal force and reintroduced vigorous religious speech into American public life.

"Fundamentalists had been a separatist movement," Harding says, "which was stigmatized even by other Protestants" for three-quarters of a century, ever since their "self-imposed exile" after the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, which was ostensibly about the teaching of evolution in the schools, but in effect put fundamentalist intolerance on trial. "Falwell openly and actively disavowed the separatism."

Before Falwell, in the world of fundamentalist evangelicals, Harding says, "being a minister or a missionary was the highest calling. Now it's to be a Supreme Court justice, or the president of the United States. Or a lawyer, doctor, corporate executive, journalist, filmmaker, you name it. It even means being a teacher -- including of biology -- in all the school systems."

Falwell helped break down the walls of the separatism in many ways. "True fundamentalists didn't have friendships, even with other fundamentalists who associated with non-fundamentalists," Harding says. "Falwell said this was wrong; we're going to stop having religious tests. He included you if you supported his agenda -- an agenda that involved attacking other groups."

To many critics, this paradox is what makes his legacy so lamentable. "He made it comfortable for churches to get actively involved in politics," says the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. "His strategy will be continued by his would-be successors -- a focus on hot-button issues like gay marriage (rather than significant moral issues like child poverty and health care), and an eagerness to make outrageous statements to the media, in order to build a religious-political empire."

Many now remember him most for outrageous statements he made after leaving the Moral Majority -- in 1999, his house organ the National Liberty Journal warned parents that the Tinky Winky TV character was secretly gay and morally dangerous; in 2001, he blamed the September 11 terrorist attack on "pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America."

Susan Friend Harding sees these as his King Lear moments. "He had already lost power by then. It's sad to think he'll be remembered for his remark about Teletubbies."

[marjon9 6]

Not to mention all the parents who now refuse to let their children watch Teletubbies because they are afraid they will all turn gay.

I watched a few episodes of the Teletubbies to see what all the commotion was about and, I have to be honest with you, David Hasselhoff started looking pretty good to me.