Patters

My liberal, fundie, Christian friend sent me this. I am quoting the whole thing because only two paragraphs are original and the rest is simply Falwell quotes that are part of the public record:

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, May 18, 2007

You can eulogize. You can mourn and ponder and do a lengthy retrospective, a political analysis, a sociocultural examination of a career and a legacy and a rather remarkable life. When remembering the dead, the journalistic options are legion.

But in the case of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, the grandfather of the fundamentalist religious right and the foremost champion of the creation of a brutally homophobic, mysogynistic Christian theocracy in America, perhaps it's better to let the man's most insidiously famous quotes speak for themselves, and let time and karma be the judge of whether Falwell left the world a better place than when he found it. (All citations are available at wikiquote.org and elsewhere.)

"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."

"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for [the attacks of Sept. 11] 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.'"

"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."

"Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions."

"I listen to feminists and all these radical gals -- most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men -- that's their problem."

"When you have a godly husband, a godly wife, children who respect their parents and who are loved by their parents, who provide for those children their physical and spiritual and material needs, lovingly, you have the ideal unit."

"The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews."

"I am saying pornography hurts anyone who reads it -- garbage in, garbage out."

"I am such a strong admirer and supporter of George W. Bush that if he suggested eliminating the income tax or doubling it, I would vote yes on first blush."

"I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I'm going to buy a Suburban next time."

"It is God's planet -- and he's taking care of it. And I don't believe that anything we do will raise or lower the temperature one point."

"I truly cannot imagine men with men, women with women, doing what they were not physically created to do, without abnormal stress and misbehavior."

"It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."

"There's been a concerted effort to steal Christmas."

"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!"

"The First Amendment is not without limits."

"Someone must not be afraid to say, 'moral perversion is wrong.' If we do not act now, homosexuals will 'own' America! If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way ... and our nation will pay a terrible price!"

"If he's going to be the counterfeit of Christ, [the Antichrist] has to be Jewish. The only thing we know is he must be male and Jewish."

"The argument that making contraceptives available to young people would prevent teen pregnancies is ridiculous. That's like offering a cookbook as a cure to people who are trying to lose weight."

"The whole global warming thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability."

"You'll be riding along in an automobile. You'll be the driver perhaps. You're a Christian. There'll be several people in the automobile with you, maybe someone who is not a Christian. When the trumpet sounds you and the other born-again believers in that automobile will be instantly caught away -- you will disappear, leaving behind only your clothes and physical things that cannot inherit eternal life. That unsaved person or persons in the automobile will suddenly be startled to find the car suddenly somewhere crashes. ... Other cars on the highway driven by believers will suddenly be out of control and stark pandemonium will occur on ... every highway in the world where Christians are caught away from the drivers wheel." (from Falwell's pamphlet "Nuclear War and the Second Coming of Christ")

"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve."

"You know when I see somebody burning the flag, I'm a Baptist preacher I'm not a Mennonite, I feel it's my obligation to whip him. In the name of the Lord, of course. I feel it's my obligation to whip him, and if I can't do it then I look up some of my athletes to help me. But, as long as at 72 I can handle most of the jobs I do it myself, and I don't think it's un-spiritual. When I, when I, when I hear somebody talking about our military and ridiculing and saying terrible things about our President, I'm thinking you know just a little bit of that and I believe the Lord would forgive me if I popped him."

"The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etcetera."

"The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the National Order of Witches."

"God doesn't listen to Jews."

"Tinky Winky is gay."

PressCoverage

What Would Jesus Do? well, precisely nothing that Jerry says here...

Lifer

and the purpose of this thread was what?

PressCoverage

well, see... a certain contingent of posters here insist on morphing religion into the political forum... so we "godless" liberals are just doing our part...

DarrylS

Gives credibility to groups like Fred Phelps "God Hates Fags.com".. I could go into a religious diatribe about my feelings but that would belong on the religious forum, trying to set a good example.

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

PatsFanInVa

And well you -- and I -- should. Thus far the most outspoken "faith based" commentators among us have evidently ignored the temptation as well.

As to the subject itself, without regard to religious (or perverted religious) origin, the late reverend certainly shows himself to be homophobic, antisemitic, and sexist, by the standards of the early twenty-first (or even mid-twentieth) century. I am not surprised the political fruits of his labors were so often exemplars of such prejudice.

PFnV

Lifer

I was never a fan of Jerry Falwell. Or Pat Robertson. Or any of the right wing loudmouth attention seeking preachers of that ilk. I think they did and have done a disservice to the Gospel.

And i also believe that those who have an anti-Christian bias will take every opportunity to talk up folks such as these in order to paint followers of Christ in general in a certain light in order to disprove the Gospel and the Word of God.

Jerry Falwell doesnt speak for Christianity and toward the end that became more and more apparent.

Since this was brought up in the political forum, by a moderator no less, then perhaps a discussion of the 99% of Christians who make the world a better place can now take place.

Since all public policy stems from our values and what we believe perhaps we can begin a Bible study on this forum?

Harry Boy

Falwell and almost all of Organized Religion.

Money.

__________________
Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

Pujo

You're right, Falwell didn't speak for Christianity, but he spoke for a small group of Christians who are the most vocal and influential in melding mainstream politics with their brand of dogma, and that's why it's appropriate to rebuff them whenever we can.

As for a bible study here, I'd be all for it (though I can't speak for everyone). There's a lot I could learn, but the study group best be prepared for some views they may not like.

reflexblue

The legacy of Fellwell in my opinion, will be the inappropriate mixing of religion and politics. In doing so diminishing the separation of church and state, one of the founding tenants of our nation. This has caused the political landscape of this nation to turn into hatred toward persons rather than disagreement toward their ideas. Whatever happened to tolerance as a virtue?

__________________
S.H.E.S.
I Likes Spikes.