Thanks for this eulogy.

We now have a model for the Al Sharpton obit.

Always nice to help out the right-wing, in their time of need.

Diane,

An Eye for an Eye is not from the teachings of The Christ. It is from the Old Testament. What Jesus came to teach was, in many cases, the polar opposite of what the Jewish religion taught. He was a radical in the purest form of the word, digging at the roots of the erroneous beliefs of the power structure of the time. His core message was that only Love is real, and we are all One with the Father/Mother/God. What seems to have happened with His teaching, as with many Others who preceded Him and followed Him, is that Their teachings were coopted by those who held political and social power. Those who know and practice the deeper Truths He and Others have taught, accept all others with Love and Respect, without regard to how they may live their lives. Lest you think I think I am free of sin and live a perfect life, forget it. I practice being the Christ, but, as in any practice, the purpose of the practice is to grow and learn in the art being practiced. We never arrive at perfection in this life, but, if we have lived well and allowed growth to happen, we can come to the end of this human experience, whenever that may be, knowing that we did as well as we could. It is not for the Afterlife that we live, but for what we can become here and now. I believe it is the Buddhists that say that the state of one's mind/spirit at physical death carries onto the next expression. Whatever happens after this life, I like to think that living well now is its own reward.

Peace,

St. John

Mister Falwell allowed in his name to describe with insightful accuracy the nature of his game. Fundamentalism (of all stripes) remains a distinct philosophical reaction to the anxiety of existentialism. He knew how to Fall Well, and used his obstinate and reactive encounter with meaninglessness to coalesce into a wellspring of platitudes and diatribes against the symbols he claimed were the cause of such panic.

Never mind he, with notice and intention, chose to avoid the deeper and subsequent vulnerable aspects of his self proclaimed theological task, thereby avoiding the source of his anxiety. He clutched uncomfortably in the arms of claimed power in the "thou shalts" rather than the subtle embrace of the Beatitudes that prescribe a grateful and giving presence in the world. This is a common cure for anxiety, most clearly seen in the ritualistic nature of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). An attempt to control the source of the anxiety results in an increase in psychic pain which starts an insidious cycle of claim followed by denial.

Mister Falwell could easily have been a poster boy for a United We Stand in Gluttony propaganda piece that needed to be executed at the beginning of the yellow ribbon war march 4 years ago.

Mister Falwell ought not be referred to as Reverand as there is little evidence to support the notion he revered anything beyond the undying necessity to capture the cause of his intractable anxeity.

Okay, yes, Falwell was an asshole- obviously and undeniably. May God rest his soul.

However, let's not obfuscate the real issue here: Tinky-Winky is gay. Falwell called that one right, not that it should have been too difficult. Has anyone here ever watched the show? I mean, it doesn't really bother me...I think it's pretty funny, actually. But that is one flaming Tubby.

...that he single-handedly sent thousands, if not millions, down the wrong path regarding Christianity. True Christianity preaches kindness to strangers and loving understanding and forgiveness of our enemies. We are taught by Jesus not to judge lest we be judged ourselves. We are told that we have no right to condemn another if we have sinned and that the fault we see in another is distorted by the aberration in our own eye. Falwell, and his fellow commercial evangelists, taught us that we didn't have to listen to Jesus' teachings as much as we had to listen to their own interpretations of Jesus' teachings.

One of the moral concepts that I remember from reading scripture is the one which tells that when Jesus comes back the people will be separated into two rows on the left and right: sheep and goat, good and bad. And the theme goes that some who think that they are goats will actually be found out to be sheep and some who think that they are sheep will be proven to be goats.

I am fairly certain that there are Muslims and Jews and Hindus and Taoists and Wiccans and a variety of other belief groups out there, who will prove to be "Christians", and a heck of a lot of "Christians" who will prove to be Falwells and Robertsons and Bakkers and Swaggarts et al.

ejb

Well, I guess I'll be the fly in the ointment. I don't think he spent a "career demonizing others." I think he spent the great majority of his life preaching the gospel.

His statements about homosexuality being a sin, feminism being outside the word of God, etc., offend a lot of Salon readers. However, that's what the Bible says - he didn't pick and choose. He preached the whole counsel of God, not just the parts that liberals like. He wasn't pretending to be anything but a fundamentalist preacher.

I won't defend his every single statement, any more than I could defend every statement I ever made. But I feel compelled to stick up for him at this time.

"Instead of pondering Jerry Falwell's legacy, we would be better off asking how this man ever become..."

"Jerry Falwell spent a career demonizing others. Upon his death, what else could he expect in return?"

I don't know - a little class?

(I'm an atheist, BTW)