Huffington!...Falwell

[Madspirit]

www.huffingtonpost.com

Falwell Dies, Forgive Me if I Don't Cry

Jerry Falwell hasn't been dead for more than a few hours. Yet, I've been inundated by emails and text messages touting the news. I've got mixed feelings on how to perceive the death of someone who would probably have celebrated my own death. So, I've decided to call a spade a spade, even in death.

He was a hateful person who did not serve to inspire the better nature of America. Instead, he used religion to propagate hate and discrimination for as long we anyone can remember. Forgive me if I don't cry.

The Carpetbagger Report has a compilation of Jerry Falwell's most famous digressions from morality, ethics, and the law. Here is a classic from 2001:

Falwell blames Americans for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. "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.'"
I remember, in the wake of great tragedy, Falwell making this statement. I'm happy to call attention to it today so people who give commentary on his life see that it was filled with hate. Forgive me if I don't cry.

Howie Klein, at Down With Tyranny goes a little farther than I would, but shows he is well versed in literature. Howie's post actually reminds me of the book "The Dante Club" by Matthew Pearl. You can read about it here. If you're already familiar with the book, then you'll know that a "man of God" who does not follow the spirit of the Word is reserved a particularly painful punishment in Dante's Inferno. Forgive me if I don't cry.

American for Separation of Church and State show how Falwell illegally transferred money from tax exempt institutions to pay for partisan political activities. This was $6.7 million dollars that regular people gave to him for his Ministry. Instead, he transferred it to political committees. He showed no regard for the law or the spirit in which that money was given. Forgive me if I don't cry.

So, he hated women, blacks, gays, jews, liberals, progressives, atheists, agnostics, foreigners, and anybody else who disagreed with him. He broke the law. He established a university that institutionalized everything he was about. I hope it all goes with him. The brand of conservative hate he represented has no place in what this country should stand for. Forgive me if I don't cry.

[JuniperLea]

1. You reap what you sow

When you spend your life sowing the seeds of hatred, don't expect anything less than dancing and pissing on your grave.

[Sydnie]

2. AMEN!

Sums up my feelings very well too.

[Raine]

3. I'm not crying either

good article, exactly on point. :thumbsup:

[malaise]

4. Beautiful

What a lovely afternoon of truth.

[Bjornsdotter]

5. What she said......n/t

[DemKR]

6. K&R

[Booster]

7. Great perspective - exactly how I feel. Thanks for posting.

[Madspirit]

8. self-kick...n/t

[Booster]

9. Great response. Exactly how I feel. Thanks for posting this.

[Vanje]

10. I'm kicking my first and only Falwell thread

Forgive me if I dont cry.

[diddlysquat]

11. Madspirit, I can't find this at your link

Who wrote it?

[Madspirit]

23. Correct Link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lane-hudson/falwell-dies-forgive-me-_b_48535.html

[buff2]

12. I agree

Falwell was a complete waste of a human being. I'll bet he'll be sorry for all the hateful deeds he did on this earth hiding behind the name of God.

[muntrv]

13. Falwell hated pagans, yet he has a Christmas tree in his house. The

Christmas tree is rooted in pagan tradition.

[mrcheerful]

14. Then at the end who gives a shit Mitt had this to say

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Mormon whose own faith has become an issue during his run for the presidency, said Falwell "built and led a movement based on strong principles and strong faith," and "the legacy of his important work will continue through his many ministries where he put his faith into action."

So now hating the poor is faith in action? As well as bilking millions of poor and elderly out of money is also faith in action? And we wonder why this country is so screwed up? If this is faith in action then I don't want nor need faith in my life except for one "I have faith that america is going to fall under its own weight of hypocrisy".

[alfredo]

15. Falwell's death is all over the media. Who says the news

never reports anything good.

I know, it is not good to speak ill of the dead, but Jerry preyed on peoples' ignorance and fear. He did what he could to divide our nation. He didn't do it out of a sense of mission, he knew he could make a lot of money if he makes people fearful of their fellow citizens, then set himself up as their savior.

[sniffa]

16. oh but karma, karma, bLah, bLah, bLah

DU has seen better days, and i'm Leaving for a few days, and omg, a bunch of other sites are quoting us.

[WindRavenX]

17. omgzz!!! ZONDS!!!

other sites???!111 OH NOES!!!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. ...

Yes, despite the fact that everybody all over the country is happy this guy is dead, and posting about it at their own non-partisan boards, surely they're quoting DU too.

[WindRavenX]

20. ahahahahah

touche--I <3 that owl.

[sniffa]

19. ZOMG

KANTTAWK KBYE

[progressoid]

21. I'm not crying and I'm not looking for forgiveness either.

[burythehatchet]

22. word

[Cults4Bush]

24. Radical and extremist, as it says he'd celebrate my death.

I wont cry just like I didnt when Saddam died.

...and Phelps at the funeral is perfect... almost fucking biblical for homophobic Christians, may they see the hate they inspire.

[Madspirit]

25. Kicking Huffington...n/t

[mzmolly]

26. My box of kleenex also remains in tact. I have the desire to break out into a rousing

version of "Ding dong the Wicked Witch is dead."

"Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. He's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know The Wicked Witch is dead!"

[Cha]

27. Good~Arianna goes with the

spade side!

Here's some more falwellians..

"Falwell has asserted that when The Antichrist (“The Beast”) comes, he “must be, of necessity, a Jewish male” <24>.

“AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals.”

He said this about Martin Luther King, “I do question the sincerity of people like the Reverend Martin Luther King…”
“I hope to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we don’t have public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them.”

"Churches" that were to his specifications?

I'm sure there will be just as foulmouthed ones to pop up in his place but why be a hypocrite about the demise of such a deranged, gluttonous beelzebub?