Rev. Jerry Falwell dies

[moser]

Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said. He was 73.

Ron Godwin, the university's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. "CPR efforts were unsuccessful," he said.

Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."

Rest of article here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070515/ap_on_re_us/jerry_falwell)

--------------------------------------
That was unexpected...

[mr. x]

not to gloat at anyone's death, but I'm sure God will recognize his own

however I would find it immensely amusing if he found himself in a celestial gay disco

[yoMAMA]

Rip.

[TB4000]

Not a fan of the man or his agendas, but my condolences.

[hooligan]

He was my favorite pundit, I'm going to miss him. What would American politics be without the left/right wingers?

[Yeahman]

I'm sitting here trying to think of something nice to say about him. First thought was, he didn't murder anyone.

He did some social service work. He brought more attention to the problem of abortion. He's said some nice things about Catholics unlike most fundamentalists.

[VV o n g B a]

I'm sitting here trying to think of something nice to say about him. First thought was, he didn't murder anyone.damned w/ faint praise. anyways, rip.

[yoMAMA]

I'm sitting here trying to think of something nice to say about him.


he started a university.

that's a pretty good deed by any standards.

[Yeahman]

he started a university.

that's a pretty good deed by any standards.
A monumental accomplishment, no doubt. But a "good" deed? Not so sure.

[Faithless]

Now, that he's up there with the big-G, wonder if he'll be asking the lord to make life worse for gays and the like.

Or will the lord just tell Jerry to "take a hike".

[Yeahman]

Now, that he's up there with the big-G
Umm...
May God have mercy on his soul.

[Yeahman]

Larry Flint on Falwell's death:
http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah5356.shtml

"My mother always told me that no matter how much you dislike a person, when you meet them face to face you will find characteristics about them that you like. Jerry Falwell was a perfect example of that. I hated everything he stood for, but after meeting him in person, years after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends. He would visit me in California and we would debate together on college campuses. I always appreciated his sincerity even though I knew what he was selling and he knew what I was selling."

Wow. Never knew.

[Faithless]

Here's the relationship I know of Flynt and Falwell (http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9701/11/falwell.v.flynt/lkl.00.html):
...
KING: And how do you feel about Mr. Falwell?

FLYNT: I always thought Jerry was a hypocrite, and I still feel that way.

KING: Because?

FLYNT: And I think the rhetoric he spews out has caused more harm than any ideas since the beginning of time.

KING: You don't think he believes in God?

FLYNT: I am not saying he don't believe in God. I am just saying I don't believe in God. That puts me at odds with him.

KING: Right. But because you don't believe, what makes him hypocritical?

FLYNT: He has his right to express his views regardless of what hypocrisy might be involved. I am not questioning that at all.

KING: So, what's the hypocrisy? You said he's hypocritical. What is the hypocrisy?

FLYNT: I just think, you know, to ride around in a private jet being paid for by little old lady's social security checks, you know, it's just not a not a very nice thing to be doing.
...

[mr. x]

His problem was running his mouth off, but honestly I'll take Falwell over a Muqtada Al-Sadr any day of the week. Just don't put him in a position of actual power

[kasia]

I'm sitting here trying to think of something nice to say about him. First thought was, he didn't murder anyone.

not directly anyway.

[Yeahman]

The more I think about it, the more I find the Falwell-Flint relationship inspiring. They had every reason to hate each other. If those two can be good friends, there's hope for this world after all.

[Faithless]

not directly anyway.
You mean like this old story from the Baptist Standard (http://www.baptiststandard.com/postnuke/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=2518):

Posted: 11/05/04
...
In a televised debate on CNN, Falwell said President Bush should "blow them (the terrorists) all away in the name of the Lord."

Capturing and, if necessary, killing terrorists "is a morally legitimate exercise of military force," said David Gushee, professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. "However, it must be recognized that in the terms of Christian moral thought, even justified wars are not to be treated as if they are being fought 'in the name of the Lord.'
...

[kasia]

The Sad, Quotable Jerry Falwell
It's bad form to speak ill of the dead. Good thing this man's own vile words speak for themselves
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, May 18, 2007

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You can eulogize. You can mourn and ponder and do a lengthy retrospective, a political analysis, a sociocultural examination of a career and a legacy and a rather remarkable life. When remembering the dead, the journalistic options are legion.

But in the case of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, the grandfather of the fundamentalist religious right and the foremost champion of the creation of a brutally homophobic, mysogynistic Christian theocracy in America, perhaps it's better to let the man's most insidiously famous quotes speak for themselves, and let time and karma be the judge of whether Falwell left the world a better place than when he found it. (All citations are available at wikiquote.org and elsewhere.)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."
"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for [the attacks of Sept. 11] 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 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 -- I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'"

"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."


"Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions."

"I listen to feminists and all these radical gals -- most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men -- that's their problem."

"When you have a godly husband, a godly wife, children who respect their parents and who are loved by their parents, who provide for those children their physical and spiritual and material needs, lovingly, you have the ideal unit."

"The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews."

"I am saying pornography hurts anyone who reads it -- garbage in, garbage out."

"I am such a strong admirer and supporter of George W. Bush that if he suggested eliminating the income tax or doubling it, I would vote yes on first blush."

"I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I'm going to buy a Suburban next time."

"It is God's planet -- and he's taking care of it. And I don't believe that anything we do will raise or lower the temperature one point."


"I truly cannot imagine men with men, women with women, doing what they were not physically created to do, without abnormal stress and misbehavior."

"It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."

"There's been a concerted effort to steal Christmas."

"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!"

"The First Amendment is not without limits."

"Someone must not be afraid to say, 'moral perversion is wrong.' If we do not act now, homosexuals will 'own' America! If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way ... and our nation will pay a terrible price!"

"If he's going to be the counterfeit of Christ, [the Antichrist] has to be Jewish. The only thing we know is he must be male and Jewish."

"The argument that making contraceptives available to young people would prevent teen pregnancies is ridiculous. That's like offering a cookbook as a cure to people who are trying to lose weight."

"The whole global warming thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability."

"You'll be riding along in an automobile. You'll be the driver perhaps. You're a Christian. There'll be several people in the automobile with you, maybe someone who is not a Christian. When the trumpet sounds you and the other born-again believers in that automobile will be instantly caught away -- you will disappear, leaving behind only your clothes and physical things that cannot inherit eternal life. That unsaved person or persons in the automobile will suddenly be startled to find the car suddenly somewhere crashes. ... Other cars on the highway driven by believers will suddenly be out of control and stark pandemonium will occur on ... every highway in the world where Christians are caught away from the drivers wheel." (from Falwell's pamphlet "Nuclear War and the Second Coming of Christ")

"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve."

"You know when I see somebody burning the flag, I'm a Baptist preacher I'm not a Mennonite, I feel it's my obligation to whip him. In the name of the Lord, of course. I feel it's my obligation to whip him, and if I can't do it then I look up some of my athletes to help me. But, as long as at 72 I can handle most of the jobs I do it myself, and I don't think it's un-spiritual. When I, when I, when I hear somebody talking about our military and ridiculing and saying terrible things about our President, I'm thinking you know just a little bit of that and I believe the Lord would forgive me if I popped him."

"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, etcetera."


"The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the National Order of Witches."

"God doesn't listen to Jews."

"Tinky Winky is gay."

[kasia]

The Sad, Quotable Jerry Falwell
It's bad form to speak ill of the dead. Good thing this man's own vile words speak for themselves
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, May 18, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can eulogize. You can mourn and ponder and do a lengthy retrospective, a political analysis, a sociocultural examination of a career and a legacy and a rather remarkable life. When remembering the dead, the journalistic options are legion.

But in the case of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, the grandfather of the fundamentalist religious right and the foremost champion of the creation of a brutally homophobic, mysogynistic Christian theocracy in America, perhaps it's better to let the man's most insidiously famous quotes speak for themselves, and let time and karma be the judge of whether Falwell left the world a better place than when he found it. (All citations are available at wikiquote.org and elsewhere.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."
"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for [the attacks of Sept. 11] 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 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 -- I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'"

"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."


"Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions."

"I listen to feminists and all these radical gals -- most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men -- that's their problem."

"When you have a godly husband, a godly wife, children who respect their parents and who are loved by their parents, who provide for those children their physical and spiritual and material needs, lovingly, you have the ideal unit."

"The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews."

"I am saying pornography hurts anyone who reads it -- garbage in, garbage out."

"I am such a strong admirer and supporter of George W. Bush that if he suggested eliminating the income tax or doubling it, I would vote yes on first blush."

"I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I'm going to buy a Suburban next time."

"It is God's planet -- and he's taking care of it. And I don't believe that anything we do will raise or lower the temperature one point."


"I truly cannot imagine men with men, women with women, doing what they were not physically created to do, without abnormal stress and misbehavior."

"It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."

"There's been a concerted effort to steal Christmas."

"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!"

"The First Amendment is not without limits."

"Someone must not be afraid to say, 'moral perversion is wrong.' If we do not act now, homosexuals will 'own' America! If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way ... and our nation will pay a terrible price!"

"If he's going to be the counterfeit of Christ, [the Antichrist] has to be Jewish. The only thing we know is he must be male and Jewish."

"The argument that making contraceptives available to young people would prevent teen pregnancies is ridiculous. That's like offering a cookbook as a cure to people who are trying to lose weight."

"The whole global warming thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability."

"You'll be riding along in an automobile. You'll be the driver perhaps. You're a Christian. There'll be several people in the automobile with you, maybe someone who is not a Christian. When the trumpet sounds you and the other born-again believers in that automobile will be instantly caught away -- you will disappear, leaving behind only your clothes and physical things that cannot inherit eternal life. That unsaved person or persons in the automobile will suddenly be startled to find the car suddenly somewhere crashes. ... Other cars on the highway driven by believers will suddenly be out of control and stark pandemonium will occur on ... every highway in the world where Christians are caught away from the drivers wheel." (from Falwell's pamphlet "Nuclear War and the Second Coming of Christ")

"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve."

"You know when I see somebody burning the flag, I'm a Baptist preacher I'm not a Mennonite, I feel it's my obligation to whip him. In the name of the Lord, of course. I feel it's my obligation to whip him, and if I can't do it then I look up some of my athletes to help me. But, as long as at 72 I can handle most of the jobs I do it myself, and I don't think it's un-spiritual. When I, when I, when I hear somebody talking about our military and ridiculing and saying terrible things about our President, I'm thinking you know just a little bit of that and I believe the Lord would forgive me if I popped him."

"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, etcetera."


"The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the National Order of Witches."

"God doesn't listen to Jews."

"Tinky Winky is gay."

[Faithless]

...
But in the case of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, the grandfather of the fundamentalist religious right and the foremost champion of the creation of a brutally homophobic, mysogynistic Christian theocracy in America, perhaps it's better to let the man's most insidiously famous quotes speak for themselves, and let time and karma be the judge of whether Falwell left the world a better place than when he found it. (All citations are available at wikiquote.org and elsewhere.)
...
I'm thinking he'd have more negative karma than positive in the vBulletin of life.

[sageb1]

jerry falwell made it to the pearly gates the other day.

st. peter spots jerry and says:

"Rev. Falwell, so glad to meet you here."

Falwell responds, "Satan begone!"

St. Peter replies, "No, truly! Welcome to heaven."

Falwell responds, "I am in Purgatory aren't I?"

St. Peter replies, "No, this is Heaven. Enter in, Jerry!"

At this pojnt, Lucifer arrives and says: "Praise the Lord!"

Falwell high fives with Lucifer, only to see Satan turn up and both the Prince of Darkness and the Light Bringer rush with Falwell to Hell.

In Hell, Falwell is greeted by a chorus of angels and other trickery to fool him into believing he's in Heaven.

The only problem is, he has to memorize his lines because the teleprompter is broken.

[Adaon]

jerry falwell made it to the pearly gates the other day.

st. peter spots jerry and says:

"Rev. Falwell, so glad to meet you here."

Falwell responds, "Satan begone!"

St. Peter replies, "No, truly! Welcome to heaven."

Falwell responds, "I am in Purgatory aren't I?"

St. Peter replies, "No, this is Heaven. Enter in, Jerry!"

At this pojnt, Lucifer arrives and says: "Praise the Lord!"

Falwell high fives with Lucifer, only to see Satan turn up and both the Prince of Darkness and the Light Bringer rush with Falwell to Hell.

In Hell, Falwell is greeted by a chorus of angels and other trickery to fool him into believing he's in Heaven.

The only problem is, he has to memorize his lines because the teleprompter is broken.

As much fun as it would be to mock a person's views and opinions for what they were in life, show a lil more respect for the dead.

[power puff girl]

not directly anyway.

good riddance. he won't be missed.



As much fun as it would be to mock a person's views and opinions for what they were in life, show a lil more respect for the dead.

why? just cause he's dead doesn't make him a better person than when he was alive or wash away his sins. when hitler died, we didn't eulogize him in the aftermath for all the good things he did.

[Yeahman]

why? just cause he's dead doesn't make him a better person than when he was alive or wash away his sins. when hitler died, we didn't eulogize him in the aftermath for all the good things he did.
The left just looooves to invoke Hitler.
You would have no problem with the religious right mocking Carter or Clinton when they die?

You don't have to praise Falwell or believe he did any good in this world. But do we really need to have a parody of him in hell? Personally, I wouldn't even do that with Hitler. And there's a bit of gap, in my mind, between the evil deeds of Falwell and the evil deeds of Hitler.

[Adaon]

good riddance. he won't be missed.





why? just cause he's dead doesn't make him a better person than when he was alive or wash away his sins. when hitler died, we didn't eulogize him in the aftermath for all the good things he did.

All people live in glass houses, where it's easy for someone to just lob a rock and break someone down. It's even easier when the person's dead. It doesn't make it right. Yeah, you compare Hitler who slew millions of people to Falwell who honestly....heh....was way out there and made a lot of people uncomfortable, to say the least. It still doesn't make it right to mock him. He's no saint by any means, but then again there are far and few between who could measure up to Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II. Let the dead, stay dead instead of having them haunt around because people are angry and won't let their memory stay down.

[deez nuts]

this guy was a great hippy killer!

[Faithless]

The left just looooves to invoke Hitler.
You would have no problem with the religious right mocking Carter or Clinton when they die?
Clinton maybe, because they liken him to Chester the Molester.

Jimmy Carter was one of their own, practically.

I've kept away from the Hitler references. I reserve that for Bush jr.

You don't have to praise Falwell or believe he did any good in this world. But do we really need to have a parody of him in hell? Personally, I wouldn't even do that with Hitler. And there's a bit of gap, in my mind, between the evil deeds of Falwell and the evil deeds of Hitler.
There is not hell.

But if there is a heaven, Falwell is up there with Matthew Shepard, much to Falwell's shagrin.

[monkeygone2]

The left just looooves to invoke Hitler.
You would have no problem with the religious right mocking Carter or Clinton when they die?


Sure, Clinton was hated (although if we compare the scandals of the Clinton administration vs the current administration, it would be more than lopsided), but not for the same reasons as Falwell.
We could get into the origins of the (few) anti-homosexual references in the Bible, but that’s off topic.

Really, I understand what you’re saying.
But my cousin’s gay, have gay friends. Looking at their faces, after they’ve been told that they’re animals & are going to burn in hell, I can completely understand the hostility towards Falwell.
Did Falwell do anything to quell the violence against gays, or did he just add fuel to the fire?