Wednesday, May 23, 2007

A Hollow Eulogy for Jerry Falwell

I didn't say anything when Jerry Falwell died. There was a time to let his family grieve, to let his victims reflect on their pain, and that was a time to be quiet, it seemed to me.

The Wall of Separation is a blog put up by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. It's a thoughtful site, not the place for ranting and hasty judgments, a site that reports on and analyzes a powerful and dangerous trend in our contemporary American society. So it was interesting yesterday to see how they reacted when the White House sent a guy to Falwell's funeral to say what a "friend of the administration" Falwell had been:
The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s funeral was yesterday and, predictably, President George W. Bush sent a representative. Tim Goeglein, White House liaison to religious groups, stepped into the pulpit of Thomas Road Baptist Church and praised Falwell as a visionary.

As the Associated Press reported, “The White House sent Tim Goeglein, its liaison to religious groups. He called Falwell a ‘great friend of the administration’ and told mourners that Falwell had trained young people now serving in the Bush administration – ‘so a man of great vision has seen a vision fulfilled.’”

A man of “great vision”? What vision might that be? Falwell’s vision was one of an officially “Christian America” – Christian by his narrow definition of that faith, of course. His “vision” would have excluded not only Americans who happened to be Jews, atheists, Muslims, Buddhists and other non-Christians but also millions of Americans whose Christian faith is less rigid.

Is Falwell’s great “vision” his legacy of ugly gay bashing and his crude personal attacks on anyone who dared to stand up to his narrow-mindedness? Perhaps the “vision” the White House celebrates is Falwell’s constant attacks on the great constitutional principle of church-state separation (which he repeatedly said was a lie and a myth) or his often-stated desire to tear down the public schools.

But maybe the “vision” Goeglein celebrates is the one Falwell outlined two days after Sept. 1, 2001. With the wounds of that horrific attack still fresh, Falwell went on national television to blame the mass killings of nearly 3,000 people not on the evil terrorists who executed it but on Americans who disagree with him on political issues.

It’s worth recalling exactly what he said: “The ACLU’s got to take a lot of blame for this. And, I know that I’ll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the Pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gys 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. I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen.’”

The misery that this one man generated in the world is immeasurable. He was no friend of America. Our elected government has no business sending somebody to his funeral, saying what a wonderful "friend" he was.

29 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The misery that this one man generated in the world is immeasurable. He was no friend of America."

I was never any big fan of Falwell myself but this is really over the top.

What "misery" are we talking about here?

"Our elected government has no business sending somebody to his funeral, saying what a wonderful "friend" he was."

They do if a significant number of voters on the winning side believe he was.

You might note that no high profile member of the Bush administration went. Elected officials of Virginia did. All seems appropriate.

May 24, 2007 10:08 AM  
Blogger Robert said...

Jerry's with God now.

May 24, 2007 11:28 AM  
Blogger Robert said...

It seems the Bush administration runs an affirmative-action program for graduates of conservative christian colleges and universities; as it should be in a christian nation.

May 24, 2007 11:58 AM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Anonymous said "What "misery" are we talking about here?".

He perpetuated the demonization of gays and is ultimately indirectly responsible for assaults and murder of gays. Jerry Falwell has blood on his hands.

Religionists bemoan the criticism Falwell has received after his death, proclaiming that since he's dead we should respect him, however, Falwell didn't offer that courtesty to the dead himself. He claimed AIDS was a just god's revenge on gays. Jerry was a racist as well. In the 50's and 60's he supported segregation and vocally claimed the seperation of the races was god's will.

May 24, 2007 2:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

andrea - not anon-
Wow, "Jerry is with God now." I wouldn't be so sure.

May 24, 2007 3:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"is ultimately indirectly responsible for assaults and murder of gays"

So, in Randi's bizarro world, anytime someone kills someone over disagreement with them, anybody else who also disagreed the murdered is also responsible for their murder?

If a lynch mob hangs a cattle rustler, you'd also be guilty of the lynchin' too if you thought cattle rustin' was wrong?

Maybe on Brokeback Mountain.

Not in the real world.

May 24, 2007 3:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

BTW, did you guys see that the guy that protests at funerals was at Falwell's funeral calling Falwell a "fag lover"?

May 24, 2007 3:17 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Anonymous at May 24, 2007 3:16 PM

Anonymous, anytime someone promotes the idea that a group of people is evil and deserves to be punished that person is indirectly responsible for people taking that message to heart and attacking a member of that group.

May 24, 2007 3:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Anonymous, anytime someone promotes the idea that a group of people is evil and deserves to be punished that person is indirectly responsible for people taking that message to heart and attacking a member of that group."

No, they're not. People who attack people are responsible for the attack.

May 24, 2007 4:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"did you guys see that the guy that protests at funerals"

Are you referring to Pastor Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas?

"Phelps is critical of laws against hate speech that make it illegal to preach that homosexuality is sinful. Hate speech laws in Sweden, resulting in the trial of Pastor Åke Green, and Canada are given particular emphasis by Phelps."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps

You're in good company Anon.

May 24, 2007 4:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"You're in good company Anon."

Apparently so. Most normal people don't think pastors should be arrested for saying homosexuality is sinful.

I bet both you and this Phelps guy both oppose bank robbery so you must be in good company as well.

May 24, 2007 4:52 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Anonymous said "No, they're not. People who attack people are responsible for the attack.".

Well, you're wrong about that. While the people carrying out the attack are responsible, so are people who incited it, although to a lesser degree. That's what your law against incitement says and that's what the hate speech laws in Canada and Sweden say.

Ake Green was not convicted of hate speech, he was absolved of all guilt. It is not illegal to call being gay a sin in either country, what's illegal is speech that calls for the death of gays. That's why Fred Phelps chose not to come to Canada, the RCMP told him that if he came here and preached that gays should be put to death that he would be arrested - and rightfully so.

May 24, 2007 5:00 PM  
Blogger Robert said...

"I bet both you and this Phelps guy both oppose bank robbery so you must be in good company as well."

I wonder whether Reverend Phelps supports robbery of banks with inclusive non-discrimination policies.

Some people don't like queer people, but he really doesn't like queer people.

rrjr

May 25, 2007 8:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

": to move to action : stir up : spur on : urge on"

This is the definition of "incite", which is what Randi says Falwell did, making him responsible for the murder of gays.

I personally don't think he ever incited anyone to murder gays. Does anyone know of him doing that?

Last Saturday, there was a story in the Post quoting Mel White, Falwell's speech writer, who was gay, saying how impressed gay activists were in Falwell's friendliness and openness to them.

May 25, 2007 2:22 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Anonymous, when you say gays are evil and partially responsible for the murder of 3000 people you spur some people to take mistaken revenge on gays. Falwell is indirectly responsible for assaults and murders of gays and has blood on his hands.

May 25, 2007 2:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Really? Well you say that Falwell is responsible for the murder of gays. If he were still alive and someone heard you and decided to murder Falwell, would you have been responsible?

BTW, on the rare occassion you hear of some violence against gays, it's not one of the types who listen to Falwell on TV. It's usually some redneck who got too drunk in a bar. They weren't likely listening to the Old Time Gospel Hour.

I remember you once saying that you used to be one of those types. Were you motivated by some preacher's sermon against homogaiety?

May 25, 2007 3:16 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

If I were on television and preaching to millions that fallwell is evil and deserves to be punished yes, I most certainly would bear some responsibility for someone taking my words to heart and punishing him. Unlike Fallwell who said AIDS was a just god's punishment for gays I've never claimed fallwell deserved to be punished.

You don't know what motivates everyone who attacks gays. I have met people who've assaulted gays who've claimed the bible justfied it.

And yes, the religious condemnation of gays was something I used to justify the anger I once felt towards LGBTs like me.

May 25, 2007 3:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, if you find a quote from Falwell saying Christians should go punish gays by murdering them, let us see it. Until you do, we'll assume this is more slander from you.

If you were to find such a quote, it would be a departure from Christianity, however, which preaches that judgment and vengeance belong to God.

May 25, 2007 4:39 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Fallwell claimed a just god was killing gays. That's close enough for some people to be permission to kill or assault gays - if its okay with god, its good enough for a lot of Christians. Your bible says gays must be put to death, if that isn't incitement than nothing is. Don't give me this BS about it being a departure from Christianity.

May 25, 2007 4:42 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

The bible is rife with your god demanding people kill for him, you're obviously ignorant or a malicious liar.

May 25, 2007 4:49 PM  
Blogger Calladus said...

I personally don't think he ever incited anyone to murder gays. Does anyone know of him doing that?


"The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc."
-- Jerry Falwell, Finding Inner Peace and Strength

"For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God,God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.

They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless.

Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them."
-- Romans 1:26-32


AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharaoh's charioteers.
-- Jerry Falwell

Although he never told anyone to actually kill gay people, there seems to be a preponderance of evidence that he believed that anything that happened to gay people was their own damned fault - even if a gun were involved.

May 26, 2007 2:53 AM  
Blogger Calladus said...

If Falwell had accidentally invented an perfectly effective Aids vaccine, he would have seen it as his duty to bury it, and forget that it ever existed. To do otherwise would have been, for him, a sin against God's judgment.

May 26, 2007 2:55 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anon said "BTW, on the rare occassion you hear of some violence against gays, it's not one of the types who listen to Falwell on TV. It's usually some redneck who got too drunk in a bar. They weren't likely listening to the Old Time Gospel Hour."

Right. They probably watched some titty show at the bar with their buddies on Saturday night and then wished they could have slept off the hangover instead of sitting with the wife and kids in the pews Sunday morning.

May 26, 2007 2:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The bible is rife with your god demanding people kill for him."

Got any New Testament examples, Randi?

May 28, 2007 8:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Although he never told anyone to actually kill gay people, there seems to be a preponderance of evidence that he believed that anything that happened to gay people was their own damned fault -"

Perhaps. But that doesn't put blood on his hands, as the ignorant and malicious Randi has claimed.

May 28, 2007 8:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"when you say gays are evil and partially responsible for the murder of 3000 people you spur some people to take mistaken revenge on gays. Falwell is indirectly responsible for assaults and murders of gays and has blood on his hands."

Know of any gays who were assaulted and murdered by anyone who blamed them for 9/11? Know of any gays who were even berated by someone who used Falwell's remarks as a justification?

You're really stretching in your insane desire to attack someone who successfully resisted the gay agenda. His success in convincing people is your real problem, isn't it?

May 28, 2007 8:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"You don't know what motivates everyone who attacks gays. I have met people who've assaulted gays who've claimed the bible justfied it."

Really? I haven't and I hang out with a lot of religiously involved people.

I do know a lot of secular types who are oddly offended by the very presence of gays; usually the types that only go to church when a co-worker gets married.

Even among them, I've never heard of anyone talking of assaulting gays. I do think I remember a few social degenerates in junior high who might bully some weaker kid and use an epithet about gays to insult them. Never really thought the victim was actually gay.

Maybe you spent too much time in places where the public abuse of alcohol is common.

Tell us some stories.

May 28, 2007 8:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Fallwell claimed a just god was killing gays. That's close enough for some people to be permission to kill or assault gays - if its okay with god, its good enough for a lot of Christians."

This is wrong. Christians believe vengeance belongs to God. Their commission from God is to tell sinners, which includes everyone, the good news that forgiveness is available to them.

Nowhere are they told to kill sinners to wipe out sin.

No one would be left.

May 28, 2007 8:59 PM  
Blogger Priya Lynn said...

Anonymous said "that doesn't put blood on his hands".

When you widely promote and rant on and on about how gays are evil and deserve to be punished and that death to gays is just you are going to encourage some people to take that to heart and assault or murder gays. Look at how Hitler started by demonizing the Jews - Falwell was just like the Nazi propaganda minister.

Anonymous said "I do think I remember a few social degenerates in junior high who might bully some weaker kid and use an epithet about gays to insult them. Never really thought the victim was actually gay. Tell us some stories."

Berlan and doctor of social work Bryn Austin, of Children's Hospital Boston Division of Adolescent Medicine analyzed data from more than 7,500 adolescents aged 14 to 22. Lesbian and gay adolescents were three to four times more likely to report having been bullied than heterosexual teens.

The National School Climate Survey was released in Washington by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. Over a third of students said they experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter on the basis of their gender expression. Nearly one-in-five students reported they had been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and over a tenth because of their gender expression.

In my school I was harrassed regularly. One particularly effeminate boy was harrassed daily and assaulted frequently. On one occaision he was beaten severly and had two black eyes, and split lips.

Anonymous said ""You don't know what motivates everyone who attacks gays. I have met people who've assaulted gays who've claimed the bible justfied it."

Maybe you spent too much time in places where the public abuse of alcohol is common."

No, I'm a non-drinker, it's you that posts late at night after coming home from the bar and binging on Jack Daniels.

Anonymous said ""Fallwell claimed a just god was killing gays. That's close enough for some people to be permission to kill or assault gays - if its okay with god, its good enough for a lot of Christians."

This is wrong. Christians believe vengeance belongs to God. Their commission from God is to tell sinners, which includes everyone, the good news that forgiveness is available to them.

Nowhere are they told to kill sinners to wipe out sin."

Your willfull blindness would be funny if it wasn't such a malicious lie. Your bible is loaded with insistence that you kill sinners. In this very thread Calladus posted Romans 1:26-32
which says sinners deserve to die.
Leviticus 20:13 says unambiguously that you must kill gays. Don't give me this Christians believe "vengence belongs to god" BS. It is well known that non-Catholic Christians are big supporters of harsh punishments and the death penalty.

May 29, 2007 1:44 PM  

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