My thoughts on Falwell

[EstimatedProphet]

I am not going to condemn Falwell, but I am not going to sugarcoat his life either. We all know the vile hatred Jerry Falwell spewed, so there's no need to rehash it. Suffice to say he encouraged millions to hate and abuse millions. I'm not sorry he's gone, but I'm not going to gloat either. This is not to denigrate DU, or try to shame the people speaking up about how they felt about him. We are all tired, and frustrated at the direction our country has taken, and we see Falwell as part of that direction.

I'm not going to celebrate Falwell's death. We all die. We all leave grieving loved ones, even those who are full of hate. All of us had mothers, all of us have people we have touched in our lives for the better in some way. Jerry Falwell used his bully pulpit to preach hatred and meanness. But he still was a person. He was no more prone to being overrun by his bigotry that we all are. The difference is, his bigotry won out.

I believe in an afterlife, but not in Hell. I think what awaits Falwell is awareness. I think he is going to see his life for what it was, and he will understand and begin to regret the pain his hate has caused people. And I think that he will understand that it was unnecessary, and he will feel regret all the more in knowing that fact.

[DontTreadOnMe]

1. It's finally over.

Well I don't believe in afterlife. And I am celebrating the end of an era. Falwell was filled with hate... and profited off that hate. While I am still alive on this planet, I will gladly show a celebration for the death of anyone who brings misery to others. I plan on only living once. And I feel no regret.

[EstimatedProphet]

7. I'm not going to argue how you feel

You have every right to feel that way. I did feel that way until recently. And now, I find I can't take pleasure in this. That's all.

[uppityperson]

2. Thank you EP. k&r.

[regnaD kciN]

3. Agreed on most, if not all, points...

Death will come to us all, and the fact that a 73-year-old man met his end is scarcely a shock.

By the end of his life, I thought Falwell had become a caricature of a "religious right" leader, mainly notable for outright silly things such as declaring a Teletubby to be gay. Nonetheless, I suspect he was sincere in his beliefs, and would guess his "judgment" in the world beyond this one to be the realization that, however sincerely he tried to follow God, he got a lot of it dead wrong, and caused a lot of damage in the process. (But, for all I know, the same may be said for me on that day in the future.)

Rather than celebrating Rev. Falwell's death, as I fear many here will be doing, I would rather take this time to wonder on just how he became such a "respected religious leader" in this country -- in other words, how the media and the popular culture anointed him as a, if not the, "spokesman for Christianity" because of his devoted following, televised presence, and political clout, without even noticing how completely opposite so many of his views were to the principles of the faith he claimed to represent.

[uppityperson]

4. Thank you also regnaD kciN

Use the time to make things better.

[niyad]

5. I would like to know in what way you think he might have touched any lives for the better-- apart,

that is, from a family living in luxury on the strength of his vile, hate-filled bigotry.

[EstimatedProphet]

6. I don't know, but I can't rule out the possibility that he did

When my dad died recently, I frankly was relieved in part. He was an abusive father. Then at his funeral, I found out there were many people who didn't see that aspect of him, and knew him as a beautiful person. That understanding was difficult, and it hurt me too. But in the end I realized that, as much as I had pain from how my father raised me, I also didn't have the right to take away the positive feelings those people had towards him. Since then I believe that everyone, all of us in some way, give something positive, somewhere.

Everyone's anger on this board is understandable for what he has done with his ministry. I am not condemning anyone. I am simply stating what I believe.