I feel compelled to post on this site because I have had my eyes opened by the commentary here. I, too, felt disgust at the preaching of Falwell and his brothers in the fundamentalist camp. In honesty, I, too, felt a flush of relief and satisfaction at reading of his passing. Then, as I am reading the vitriol being spewed from so many posters, I am brought up short by Orange_fescue. I am a very committed practitioner of the Spiritual Principles brought through Jesus the Christ, the Buddha, the Dalai Lama, and many others who have shared the Truth revealed to them through Direct Experience. As was stated earlier here, what Falwell has shown us is the the shadow which resides to some degree in all of us. The power of Forgiveness is not what it does to the other, but what it does for me. I don't remember which one told the story of Christ meeting Jerry at the Gates, but that is what the true meaning of the Infinite Grace of God(or whatever name you choose for the creator of all)is. No matter what earthly judgment may be applied to one's actions, the Heart of the Master of Love is large enough to embrace it in Peace.

This isn't meant to change anyone's mind about Rev. Falwell or any other; it is an expression of what I have experienced in reading this thread. My eyes were opened, once more, to my own need for forgiveness of myself for my judgment of others. Thank you for the wake-up call.

Peace,

St. John

Shouldn't all Christians rejoice when a Christian dies? After all, they leave this sinful, mortal world for a better place! An eternity of living in a mansion in the sky where there is no sickness or strife, the rivers flow with milk and honey, and Jesus smiles and pats you on the back and lets you win at checkers, or something like that. So, what's to mourn?

Me? I don't care where Falwell is, I'm just glad he's not here anymore.

Mike Malloy, who I normally don't listen to but did tune into today on my way home from work, read an excellent letter from a listener who talked about our ability, as media consumers, to distinguish between the public persona and the person. Namely, that we can't.

As the listener wrote, Jerry Falwell very deliberately put himself out into the public eye - he said things that were provocative and hateful to purposely generate controversy, inflame passions, and cause divisive bickering. And those actions and those ideas BECAME Jerry Falwell. So when people celebrate, pop champagne, or rage against him here, very few are raging against the guy who might have been a good father and a caring husband (who knows what he was like in private - I read that Clarence Thomas is a blast to hang out with...).

Like most public ideologues, Falwell will forever be equated with his ideas.

And since only HE is dead, it's safe to say that his ideas live on. So, really, we have very little to celebrate.

Incidentally, the Mensa members who run the God Hates Fags web site - they really hate Falwell, too. Something about him proclaiming love for Jews and saying that God loves everyone. If you can believe it, there are people out there (with web sites!) who are whackier and more horrible than Falwell by far.

orange_fescue said it best, and I agree with him, as well as okjocko and others. God's love is beyond all comprehension. Some of us here are doing exactly what we railed against Falwell for doing: we have consigned his soul to divine reprimand and eternal damnation based upon our perceptions of what is just and fair.

Let us pray for the soul and the loved ones of this man, or otherwise do what he may not have done for others: leave him be. Like Father Coughlin and other polarizing politcal-religious figures of his ilk, history will judge his legacy here on earth.

I came of age in a megachurch-dominated, suburban, Dallas-Ft.Worth(Tx), environment where the "unofficial" primary religion was high-school football but the "official" primary religion was "Southern Babdist" Hell-Fire-and-Moral-Majority groupthought. My introduction to Ronald Reagan came through the vehicle of this self-centered, bigoted, self-righteous character who claimed to be the leader of the so-called "Moral Majority," one Jerry Falwell. Falwell was shilling for Reagan in the first Presidential election for which I was eligible to vote.

It was evident from the start that those of us who didn't believe in the "Reagan Revolution" would also not have any success in believing that the so-called "Moral Majority" was either "moral" or "in the majority." And vice-versa.

As decades of hindsight have now (gratefully) demonstrated, we were right on both counts. And, as Alan Wolfe points out, Falwell's hate-based rhetoric was and is basically corrupt and self-serving. In my personal opinion, it was just as self-serving as the Reagan-esque fantasies about Welfare Queens who drive Cadillacs and Trickle-Down Economics.

(I don't know about YOU, but I definitely feel "trickled" upon.)

I would feel self-righteous in this recognition now, except for the fact that the very same bigoted, self-serving, self-righteousness that Falwell et al parlayed into Reagan-Era policy (and personal wealth) was subsequently parlayed into our current Neo-Con Hell-On-Earth, a.k.a. Iraq. The thinking person's recognition that people like Wolfowitz and Feith used Falwell and his following of sheep as a springboard to promote their fantasies about how they could reorganize the Middle East to fit their agendas is, well, tragic.

Classic definition of tragedy: "It's your own damn fault!"

Regarding Iraq, Domestic Spying, the destruction of Habeas Corpus (think "Gitmo"), and a dozen other Major Issues: People of the United States: "It's your own damn fault!"

Proposed solution: "Deal with it. Honor and follow the Constitution of the United States of America."

Once upon a time, this was a radical notion. Then, it became dull and taken for granted. Now, it is perhaps once again time to reimpose and reinforce its mandates.