Jerry Falwell's Mixed Legacy

Jerry Falwell did not, as you claim, heal families. He hurt millions of families that included gay human beings, made many good Christians to hate or feel ashamed of their gay family members, and then turned around and accused gay human beings of harming their families or 'family' - an empty accusation that applied more to him than to innocent gay human beings and their families. He was abusive, a liar, a false prophet and a bigot. Please do not sugarcoat his legacy of blind hatred.

The man was smarmy, smug, oleagenous to the extreme. Even a bit effeminate (and we all know wht "The Bible Says" (TM) about THAT! He bore mean-spirited false witness again and again and again against God's gay and lesbian children; accused gays, lesbians and feminists of causing 9/11 and hurricanes. I found him vile and will NOT miss him. I only hope God can/will forgive him for his egregious sins against others - all done in the name of politics instead of Christ.

I personally never liked Falwell. To me he represented everything that is negative in American Christianity--the homophobia, the annoying self-righteousness, the ultra-nationalism, etc. To him and his followers you either believed EXACTLY as he believed or you weren't a "real Christian". (In other words you had to be a conservative Republican to be Ok in Falwell's book!)
He said many mean-spirited things during the course of his life which made me wonder if he really knew Jesus or was just a charlatan. But that is for God to decide. So now that he is gone I have to say that I will not miss him. Frankly I always thought he gave Christianity a black eye.

My heart goes out to his family and all who loved Rev. Falwell.
While I really don't feel it is my place to judge the man, I agree with J-Walking that many of Rev. Falwell's words and actions did not shine the best light on Christian life. And I do not want my young son to emulate the man's spiritual expression. But may you RIP, Rev. Falwell.

Sometimes people forget that Jesus was a controversial figure. To a large portion of the Jews to whom he spoke he said things that were offensive and incomprehensible. However, he did teach truth.
Despite what a majority of the comments posted say, most of Falwell's stances on social issues ARE in line with historic, orthodox Christianity and traditional exegesis. Whether people disagree or not does not detract from the fact that truth is truth. Sin is still sin and will be judged. Jesus came to bring redemption. If only people would realize that. Grace can only come whem we ALL realize our sinfullness and accept not only God's pardon but his HELP in battling against sin and evil. Jerry Falwell stood up unashamedly for truth and should be applauded. May God give true Christians the same fortitude.

amen, Doug. However, Jesus was controversial because he refused to condemn those that the religion and culture needed to condemn. He did not embrace power, control, and riches. Jesus is the model, I wish to follow. I think of only a few who have done it well - St. Francis did a heck of a job, but that was in the fourteenth century. it's been awhile and in the meantime, we Christians - left and right - progressive and conservative manage to do Christianity only as well as we can despite our own bigotry, anger, racism, sexism, etc. But somehow, there are still moments when we see Jesus present in the world. The Amish who forgave lasst winter, Brother Roger of Taize, Sister Helen Prejean, Dr. Martin Luther King - we get a glimpse and go on. I'm sure Dr. Falwell got the same glempse as the rest of us and did the best he could. Like all of us he found idols that were not of God (nationalism for him) and scapegoats (gays and lesbians,). Now, if we are Christians, we must look inside and find what it is we make idols and scapegoats. His life was valuable in its brokenness and in its mercy - just like the rest of us. He preached sermons that turned people to good lives, to Christ and he preached sermons that make people feel good about their hatreds and bigotry. Once again, I say in the words of the humble little French saint, "If I am willing to serenely bear the burden of being displeasing to myself, I will be a pleasant place of shelter for Jesus." We must all keep trying as I am sure Dr. Falwell did every moment of his life.

Is this the man that said the tragedy in New Orleans was God's punishment for the sin he perceived was carried out there? Maybe God punished him with heart problems for his mammoth amounts of intolerance for His children.

Wow, talk about a polarizing figure. While I'd like to be as accomodating as those above who try to emphasize some of Mr Falwell's "good works", and that he was indeed true to his beliefs, it's frankly very, very hard to accept this man's ultimate mark on the world. As a fellow believer, I can understand how he came to his fundamentalist beliefs, but is there anything truly more depressing than to read of how many people (in the above comments & elsewhere) were "turned off" God & Christianity as a result of Falwell's politicization of his/our faith? Indeed, I almost feel nauseated at the extreme revulsion perpetrated by his actions -- and don't try to minimize these by saying he was just echoing orthodox Christian views. There *is* a way to love and bring forth change without judgmentalism & condemnation. However, all this said, I actually think his death marks of an era (in a good way) and the birth (hopefully) of a more mature (evangelical) Christianity that will have a positive impact. Maybe Rick Warren's amazing work portends this, maybe others. But Falwell's type (Robertson, Dobson, et al) might be less dominant than in the past ...

David -- a fair and masterful analysis of Falwell's legacy. I thought your recent appearance on Larry King was very effective. Sorry you didn't have more time.

"Falwell did not fail the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Donny Jerry Falwell was a loser - in the same sense that, if you actually read the Old Testament, Abraham (self-centered, immoral liar), Isaac (dysfunctional husband/father) and Jacob (self-serving conspirator and thief) are presented as losers. As with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only thing Falwell has/had going for him is/was - come to think of it, the very same and only thing any of us have going for us - and that is that our gracious God is loser friendly.

Jerry Falwell died. And the muckers come out to muck.
I'm fighting this. I feel like I'm fighting everyday to try, as Johnny Cash sang, "To keep working out my salvation, trying to get santified." It's hard. I get confused. One minute I feel like I get it and get quite prideful about how no one else seems to. And that's bad. The next, I feel as dumb as a rock and am ashamed that I can't connect more, live more, the way God wants me to. And that leaves me feeling like a failure.
One of the things that has become part of my "work," so to speak, is to check out David Kuo's blog. Often I find something helpful, and for that I am appreciative. I generally stay away from the 'comments' section. They depress me to no end and literally make my head hurt. (Thinker, you by name are excused from this. Others have made comments that helped, but you stand out, so peace be with you.) But I gave in to temptation on this one. And now I remember why I stay away. The high horses that come to drink the water drive me to exhaustion. And that I stay away isn't to say that I am above the fray. I'm afraid it means that I'm too weak for it. Run down the list of our lesser angels, and you can generally check each one of them as I read.
So I don't read them and I don't write on them. But now I am. I'm not sure why. I know this. A man died. He made bold statements meant to divide people. One can only hope, deep down, that he meant to divide the fruitful trees from the non-fruitful. But good intentions do not always lead to good results. Regardless, whether or not he was doing what he did for political reasons, or spiritual reasons, can't really be known. And it shouldn't be. Because it's not our call. It's simply not our job to say. And it certainly isn't in good taste to use a man's death to muck it up. I would say this. If you let someone, whether it be Jerry Falwell, or a disgraced priest, or a inept Sunday school teacher seperate you from God, might I suggest that you re-examine the foundation of the perch from which you were so persuasively knocked?
I've never been knocked from it. But that's only because I'm on my hands and knees, knuckles white, hanging on. Because standing on the shoulders of high horses leaves me cold.

You know this is difficult. In some ways I totally agree with David Kuo and yet Falwell is a true hero of mine. People who are only casually familiar with Falwell or the man that is caricatured in the media, sometimes by his poor choice of words, bad timing, or simply wrong views based on a cultural world unfamiliar to most of us, have no idea just how far Jerry has come in his journey. Most don't realize that there is a fringe element of fundamentalist Christianity from which Jerry came that think Jerry is a "sell out" and I kid you not, "liberal" Jerry walked away from these people some 25 years ago.
Jerry was wrong 45 years ago when he said preachers should not be involved in politics during the civil rights marches. Yet two years ago received the NAACP Award of the year in his city.
He made a stupid statement about AIDS back in the early 80's when it appeared only gays were getting the disease. It shouldn't have mattered. Later in his ministries he reached out to gays and people with AIDS. He never changed his views that homosexuality was wrong because that is his belief based on what he thinks the Bible teaches. Larry Flynt said the most vile things about Jerry having sex with his mom in an outhouse. Yet years later Jerry forgave him and they became friends. Al Sharpton said tonight on Larry King that he and Jerry did not agree on anything yet they were friends. He said that he never saw Jerry trweat anyone hateful or mean. He was someone who always had time for everyone and anyone when they were together. During a personal crisis for Sharpton Jerry would call and check in with him. Larry King said Jerry was so friendly, never mean or hateful, that you could not dislike the guy, When Jesse Jackson Jr.'s wife had a miscarriage several years ago one of his first call THAT day was to Jerry. Does this sound like a man of hate? I'm torn in the sense that I think he got too involved in politics and did equate for many that God was a Republican. Now I am a hard-core Reagan Republican. But I think there is a danger in linking politics to closely to the church, much more than the other way around which most liberals are fearful of. And God is not a partisan pol. I should add BTW that a lot of the remarks that Jerry makes are toungue-in-cheek and jokes, such as the the one Kuo tells about above. When you hear Jerry tell them you know they are in fun, even though there is a bit of "bite" to them.

A mixed legacy it is, that is certain. Falwell and the movement he helped found did all they could to raise up a major neglected group of people in American public life to its full potential. It is mildly ironic that this happened out of opposition to Modernity, yet amounts to a consistency with its aims and ends. Falwell will go down in American political history as a warrior of a movement against Modernity generally and for traditional theism specifically. How Christian and Biblically justified either of the two was will remain controversial, I'm sure. Less disputable is the sequence of growth, empowerment, overreach, overextension, faltering, exhaustion, diminishing, and incremental retreat of this movement as a whole in recent years.

To the poster who defended fallwell based on his private friendships and life: sorry, but his public life affected more people than his private life ever will. Falwell demonised lots of innocent groups of people and spread heious lies about them. To the poster who claimed the "horrors" of gays and lesbians teaching kids to accept themselves as they are: Sorry but the reverse is true. Telling innocent kids who happen to be gay that they are hell-bound and responsible for society's ills just because they are gay or lesbian is a heinous abuse of a child's innocence. Falwell encouraged this practise among parents who followed him, and many children live their childhoods in fear not only of their parents finding out that they are gay, but also from a "god" that hates them just because of who they are. Such children are often tormented because of what they are and Falwell and his supporters should be ashamed of this, not encouraging it further.

His messages on everything I hold dear -- and everything I believe God wants for us -- were appalling.
But, his ability to bring his message to the public arena should give all of us progressive religious leaders inspiration and motivation. The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing extends its sympathy to his family, friends, university, church -- and even his followers. See my blog at http://debrahaffner.blogspot.com

Well Reverend Hafner, It didn't take long to see that your org is just one of many gay/abortion promoting associations trying to pass itself off as Christian or whatever. Same exact message as the Christian Alliance for progress. See progressive and see the same old sins repackaged in a new name. No one can say that they were not warned about people like you. On that Falwell, like Jesus and his apostles didn't fail to advise us all.

Jerry Falwell was a despicable human being, and he will most certainly NOT be missed by me or by millions of liberal Christians like me. He perverted the Gospel out of all recognition, all for personal and political gain. I have ZERO respect for Christian fundamentalism, and people like Falwell, Robertson, and Dobson are part of the reason why. They are/were nothing more than modern-day Pharisees, who give Christianity a bad name. Falwell delighted in damning to Hell all those who were not like him, but I'd wager he's in for an unpleasant surprise as he meets his maker. Lastly, shame on David Kuo for lionizing this pathetic little man.

The world now has one less hateful, bigot.

As Jesus said, "...He who is without sin, cast the first stone..." God will judge him accordinely, but I doubt it will be a nice judgement.

Part of me feels as if I should be rejoicing because Falwell is gone, but I can't. Say what you will about the man (and I could say a lot...) but he did speak up for what he believed, whether I agreed with him or not. If only others had such courage of conviction! I hope he's in heaven today, and I also hope he has found that many others that he spoke against have made it there as well.

The article gives him to much credit. He was a bigoted, evil, judgemental, hypocrite who saved nobody other than those whose thirst for hate and power over ride any sense of decency and fairness. I am not exactly in mourning over the passing of such a man.

JL, you hinted at what I want to say: If Jerry is indeed now in heaven, I'm guessing he is quite surprised by some of the folks he is seeing there with him! I have no problem with a person standing for their convictions. What made the so-called "Moral Majority", and the "Christian right" (which is often neither) so dangerous is that it wasn't really about faith or the Christian message. It was about power, cloaked in "the language of Zion". One hardly needs to enumerate the horrible damage done by those who do what they do in the public or political arena in the name of their religion/God. One of my fondest memories of Jerry Falwell was from years ago, when he and William Sloan Coffin were guests on "Donahue", debating this and that. Coffin had a manuscript copy of his latest book with him, from which he quoted. Falwell, sounding like an 11-year-old on the playground, baited and taunted him, saying, "Why didn't you bring your Bible, Bill?" Without missing a beat, Coffin responded, dryly, "I thought you would have yours, Jerry." Falwell kept his superior smirk, but had no comeback. Loved it!

No, I won't forgive him. He was a hateful person, and I hope he reaps what he has sown.

Roe vs. Wade... divorce, drug use, out of wedlock birth. I'll skip the sarcasm, and ask directly. What did Jesus say the day of judgment would be like? Did he say that on one side, he'd speak to those who fought abortion, divorce, drug use and out of wedlock birth? No... on one side would be those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and imprisoned.
Jesus also said that those who spoke for him could be recognized by their fruits. Note: this does not mean that if a person is not bearing good fruit, they are not *saved*. This only says that if a person *speaks* in Jesus' name, you should look to their fruits to determine whether they are trustworthy.
What were his fruits? Did the poor get fed, the hungry nourished? Did justice - that is, folks getting treated fairly - increase? Were the sick given help and comfort, or told they were being given a divine spanking?
He helped elect Ronald Reagan... the man who helped make worship of Mammon more acceptable in our society. You know why you can't worship God and Mammon? Because the godly choice is frequently not the smart money choice. Sometimes being righteous means you have to spend money you wouldn't have to if you didn't love your neighbor.
I don't see his legacy as very mixed, I'm afraid.

J Ran If you read this blog regularly, you would find that David does not attack other Christians. In a very "radical"(getting back to "root" beliefs)and prophetic way, he points us back to Jesus, emphasizing what Jesus cared about most -- (ultimately in Matthew 25). When Christians stray from the message of the Gospel, David reminds them to get back on the Path.

May God have mercy on his soul.

You know, Jerry Falwell may very well have been a very kind person in private. Trouble is that all we saw was the public speaker who always seemed to be complaining about someone. I am sorry for his family's loss, but I am not sorry that he will no longer be here to spew hate.

Posthumously Jerry Falwell stands with clarity. Doing the triple back flip flop into politics he declares the mix of religion turns out was NOT of the devil. In doing so he homogenizes Jews and Catholics with evangelical Christians. Up until then we were taught the Catholics were the harlot who comes with the beast in Revelations. Today we see the Catholics and the evangelicals all on the same team. We are fighting against secularism however make no mistake, we are not the only ones fighting secularism, so are the Muslim extremists & Bin Laden. The plot thickens, could the harlot now be Bin & Jerry's new flavor of church and state? Or is all this a tinky winky fairy tale? I ride on the wings of cynicism and resignation, but follow it closely. Ironically gay sex compassionately prevents abortions, 100%. Who missed that one? RIP Jerry, you could have had a bigger half time show.

I'll try to stay on topic and address the blog's points... first of all, Dr. Falwell was a sincere and good-hearted person. Anyone who got to know him personally (including his political enemies) liked him as a man. Hmmm... that kind of reminds me of Jesus. As far as your point that the jokes about Bin Laden and Hillary Clinton were "angry" and an example of the "worst of Falwell"... huh? Maybe the jokes weren't "PC" but I hear far worse jokes about our standing President every single night on TV. As to your point that changing politics doesn't change the soul... well, that is a point worth debating. Your point that "statistics" show a moral decline is valid, but it doesn't prove where we would be today if Dr. Falwell had remained silent. To all those that hate Dr. Falwell because he stood against sin... sorry, but Jesus ticked people off for the same thing back in His day. Dr. Falwell was a preacher, deal with it. Your argument isn't with Dr. Falwell, it is with the Word of God. It is intellectually absurd to believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and to also claim that homosexuality isn't sinful behavior. Read the Law (Torah)where it says "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.", read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Last but not least, read this... Rom 1:22ff Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; {they are} gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.