Good Riddance to Jerry Falwell

de mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est

I wish I believed in an afterlife, because if there was one Jerry Falwell would surely roast in Hell. Under the guise of a religious minister, he managed to spread more hate than any modern public figure in America. As a self-appointed representative of the prince of peace and love, he fostered a culture of festering intolerance. He leaves behind many other similar haters who infect the airwaves, including Pat Robertson, D. James Kennedy, and John Hagee, but none of them can equal the sheer venom and vitrol of the late lamented Falwell.

I’m sure that you have heard many of his quotes, but I include some of them just to remind you of what this miserable character stood for. After thousands of people died at the hands of Moslem terrorists on 9/11, Rev. Falwell, with the concurrence of Pat Robertson, said: “God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve….The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this… 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 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."

In other words, it was not the fanaticism, religion, and hatred by a group of Moslem jihadists that caused the horror of 9/11, it was an angry God, punishing us for tolerating liberals, abortionists, the ACLU, and others. If this was an act of God, why would anybody want to proclaim himself one of his ministers? Such a God would not deserve worship. He would deserve our abhorrence and revulsion. Needless to say, Falwell’s remarks caused a storm of protest, and he later backed-down from them. In their original form of raw bigotry, however, they revealed the foul sediment in the soul of Jerry Falwell.

Falwell was famous for many other sayings including: “If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.” “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!” “AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.” “The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.” “The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.” The sad thing is that this garbage was spoken to the ears of willing believers.

When Falwell died, newspapers around the country made the usual mealy-mouthed remarks, such as: “Whatever you may think of Rev. Fallwell, he stood-up for what he believed.” Well, so did Osama bin Laden. Standing up for what you believe is no virtue if what you believe is rooted in hatred and intolerance. Sometimes this “de mortuis nil nisi bonum” (say nothing but good about the dead) business gets carried too far.