Falwell's Death Draws Mixed Editorials

[Ian David]

Falwell's Death Draws Mixed Editorials

By Joe Strupp

Published: May 16, 2007 11:00 AM ET

NEW YORK The death Tuesday of conservative minister Jerry Falwell, who led the rise of Christian politics, but sparked controversy with his anti-gay and anti-liberal comments, drew mixed reactions on editorial pages today as some papers sought to point out his successes, while others called him a divider and an exploiter.

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"Falwell ... knew how to exploit the growing power of television to expand his ministry by reaching out to new audiences. His rise as a political force in the 1980s, however, came through his adeptness at identifying and exploiting cultural and religious divisions," a Chronicle editorial stated. "Over time, Falwell marginalized himself with his over-the-top statements, such as his contention that purple-clad TV character Tinky Winky was a gay role model and morally damaging for kids. Two days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks, Falwell suggested that abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians, the ACLU, liberals and others who tried to 'secularize America" had made God angry and had "helped this happen.' He later apologized."

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The Dallas Morning News

"This editorial page often disagreed with the Southern Baptist minister, such as when he said that 9/11 might be God's judgment on America because of gays, feminists, pagans and liberals. Those remarks were embarrassing and silly, and a long line of ministers and lay leaders rightly denounced them for their venom. In fact, that reaction demonstrated how Mr. Falwell's brand of political Christianity was beginning to lose its luster within evangelicalism. New leaders were rising, pushing issues like care for the environment and compassion for Africans suffering from AIDS. Younger pastors like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes have become voices of a less partisan movement that engages the wider world but is not as closely tied to the Republican Party. Mr. Falwell's death marks not only the passing of a man, but the passing of an era."

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The Star Tribune in Minneapolis

"It's tempting, at the death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, to wonder whether he finally found what he seemed to be looking for. Whatever his personal faith might have been, Falwell's public and very political spirituality seemed based on a belief in a vengeful God: AIDS was punishment for homosexuality, Sept. 11 was punishment (though he later recanted) for abortion, paganism and the ACLU. Oh yes, and homosexuality."

"One did not have to believe in the Rapture to see that, under Falwell's leadership, huge numbers of Christians disappeared from mainstream U.S. politics. He ran the Moral Majority almost as a party in its own right, and he claimed credit for helping put Ronald Reagan in the White House."

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