Jerry Falwell is dead.
Notice that I did not call him the "reverend" Jerry Falwell, or any other similar honrific.
Because I believe that he was as much a voice of God as, well, frankly, I am.
I have never claimed, nor will I ever claim, to speak for God. I do not believe that any man, woman or child on this Earth can ever claim that right.
And yet that was what he claimed he did, every day.
The man was, put simply, a racist, misogynist, homophobic bigot.
In 1978, he founded the so-called "Moral Majority" (2 lies for the price of one), which helped usher in the Reagan-Bush era, and helped ensure that social progress in this country would be set back by about 50 years.
He campaigned against sanctions against the Apartheid government of South Africa, claiming that Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a "phony".
He asserted that the Antichrist was alive and a Jewish male.
And, after the September 11th, 2001 attacks, he asserted on National Television:
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 (September 11th) happen.'"
He later apologized for this, and claims he was quoted out of context, but I've seen the video. And this is a man who has been performing in front of a camera for more than 30 years. There is nothing he ever said in front of a live camera he didn't mean.
So I will shed no tears for this man. And I have no sympathy for anyone who does. And I realize that I may lose one of the three readers of this blog by writing this. I don't care. This blog isn't about the readers. It's what I think.
There is an old saying I learned long ago: If you ever see a man coming toward you telling you what a good Christian he is, put one hand on your wallet and walk the other way.
Jerry Falwell became a very wealthy man telling other people what a good Christian he was. Because too many people didn't follow that advice.
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