Nobody did it better, made me feel sad for the rest, who tried so hard to make the same buck on the same street corner including Pat Robertson right on up through that cocksuckin' crank-snortin' Ted Haggard, The Rev. Falwell was the best at getting the suckers to empty their pockets for him.

Folks, let me tell you 'bout JEEE-sus!

It reminds me of a slow blues song I heard once: "I want to be a Baptist preacher, so's I won't have to work no more."

Yeah baby, and Amen to that!

What really galls me is the nature of his demise. From the news reports, it sounds like he got a perfect death. He died suddenly with out any apparent pain and still quite (in)famous. I can only hope to go out so well. I almost take this as a sign that there is no God, for if there was, how could such a man leave this mortal coil so easily? He deserved a fate more along the lines of those poor souls who were forced to choose between jumping off the 100th floor of the World Trade Center or burning to death.

My grandmother used to say that one should hate the sin, but love the sinner. However, she made exceptions for sinners who 1) had no love in them; 2) spread hate so far and wide. She was a good lady, but she wasn't a saint--:).

* “AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals”

* "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."

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

* After the September 11 attacks Falwell said, “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."

* “Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions”

* “[Homosexuals are] brute beasts...part of a vile and satanic system [that] will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven.”

There are few men I despised more than Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. I am an Evangelical Christian. I have been trying for twenty years to bring my parents into the same joyful relationship with Christ that I have. I have given my all to explain suffering, free will, heaven and hell and so many of the other incredibly challenging questions surrounding faith. What I resented about Falwell and Robertson so much was that with all that on my plate, they had to add their hate-filled, bigoted and unforgiving spew. My parents remain unable to get past that image of Christians, assuming I must be an exception, not the norm.

If Falwell was truly a Christian, and I actually do hope he was, and he is in heaven, then I hope God is seriously kicking his ass.

Jerry Falwell was indeed replaced by the Ralph Reeds, Karl Roves and James Dobsons of the world who put a softer spin on the pitchfork political religiousness favored by Mr. Falwell. Falwell's brazen, ugly honesty was what made him so appealing. He didn't pretend not to hate me. His progeny are slicker, smarter and the disconnect between their professed beliefs and their politics is less obvious. Rational, tolerant people had perfect foil in Jerry Falwell, now we'll have to settle for the fictional Harry Hardwick over at Landover Baptist Church.

It's true. I'm saddened by all this. Not because I mourn the passing of his hateful blaspemy masquarading as theology, but because whenever a human being dies, no matter how despicable their actions, there should be at least a moment of reflection and identification with their humanity.

I'm saddened by Falwell's death precisely because it did not spark such a response in me. My initial reaction was good riddance. It's truly a shame that Falwell's life was so reprehensible and divisive that his death commands so little empathy.

It's no surprise, though. At this point, we've been conditioned to ignore death, and to deny its sacrality as a shared and defining human event. I can't help but think of the 3400+ soldiers who have died in Iraq, but who's deaths we are not asked to mourn (the President still hasn't attended a single soldier's funeral). Or what about Anna Nicole Smith, who's death was something like celebrity porn on overdrive--all gossip and scandal, and no recognition of her humanity.

Like the headline says, given the life he led, it's no surprise that Falwell's death is less than troubling for a lot of folks. But it's still a shame that his passing will be yet another example of our culture's profaning of death.

What a country. What a world.

he skipped over the Sermon on the Mount because that kind of gospel won't line your pockets and get you invited on Hannity and Colmes.

It's a fair bet he skipped the part about the money changers in the temple, as well.

celebrating Fallwell's one way trip to Hell.

Bottoms up!

There are few things sweeter in life than to piss on your enemy's grave, more so if it means driving over it in your wheelchair and discharging your colostomy bag on him.

"Evangelicalism grew in the exurban megachurches, and the megachurches, implicitly and occasionally explicitly, rejected Falwell's approach to the faith... With the maturation of American evangelicalism has come an interest in social justice, environmentalism and peace."

I'm with Erechtheides on this. Have you been drinking Kool-Aid from strangers? Did you copy this out of one of their press releases? WTF?

Far as I can tell, they preach the same mindless hate and divisiveness Falwell did, and I'm sure any number of them are just itching to jump into his TV seat while it's still warm.