So, Jerry Falwell is dead. May his legacy of hatred and intolerance join him in the nothingness that I believe meets us all at death. May all the wickedness, cruelty, bigotry, and hypocrisy he spouted vanish into resounding silence for the future and instant forgetfulness smack into the minds of his followers with the same certainness in which his life ended (sans rapture, I might add).
I almost wish I believed in hell at times like this, for that is surely where Falwell would be right now if it existed. In sincerity, though, I simply wish that respect, tolerance, love, peace, kindness, gentleness, honesty, concern, care, and fun would find their way into the hearts of the Religious Right, and especially into their leadership.
Morality does not necessarily come with religious faith and, often, the opposite seems true: the louder the voice from the pulpit or the pew, the more immoral and irrational. Falwell did grievous wrong to his constituency and to all those who lent him even half an ear for half a moment. We can see it in his every word, but I don’t want to reprint them here lest they pollute the internet more than they already do. (But do visit Mark Morford’s Falwell column to read some of the saddest and most evil and know fully whereof I speak.)
When you’re through, you might want to read the wit and wisdom of that bizarre combination of iconoclast and neocon Christopher Hitchens at Slate.com or watch him on CNN, spouting anti-Falwell/anti-religion rhetoric with more persuasive and powerful gusto and sparkling white male Britishness than anyone else on the planet can muster (well, there’s always Richard Dawkins). I am so glad ethical athiests are starting to have some voice in the media!
To conclude, let me add how much I resent Falwell for making me have to write this blog entry. We all have better and more positive things to do with our time than combat the evil he spewed into the world in his power-mongering way...evil that will continue to impact this nation's populace and leadership, sadly, even after his death.
I think today would be a good day to plant a tree in reverent honor of a future without Mr. Falwell in it. And hug your LGBT friends. (Any excuse for a tree or a hug is good, eh?)
3 comments:
Amen, indeed, my atheist sister!
i don't really believe in hell, but i do believe in some kind of reckoning, some moment where the soul comes face to face with whatever force God may actually be..... and all i really kept thinking the day Falwell died was... Damn, i wish i could be there to hear what the Creator/Supreme Being/God/Goddess had to say to him, and see the look on Falwell's face when there was no brass band to welcome him.... when he saw Heaven populated with all the people he'd scorned, ridiculed, rejected and yes, hated. Because for Falwell, that would be hell, wouldn't it?
Actually, if i were God (and you know me, this is a game i play a lot) i would tell Jerry, You can come into heaven and share the peace, the goodwill, the serenity... just as soon as you listen to all the people upon whose life you had a negative impact explain just how much hatred and harm you passed along and around the earth..... you can't come in until the last child whose mother or father turned their backs on them because of your teaching had explained how that affected the rest of their lives... until the last person who suffered from depression and horror and self-loathing because they couldn't measure up to your holier-than-thou standards has communicated to you just what a hell you helped to make of their lives... until all the people who had even a moment of self-doubt or persecution that either originated with you or was fanned into higher flame by you has had their chance to share with you all that suffering....
And when he finished with all the people already there, he'd have to stand at the gates apologizing to each and every new soul that arrived, even the ones not born during his time on earth, but who were touched by someone influenced by him, as long as that chain continues....
And if he ever reached the end of that chain, then he'd be forgiven.
cgxuvaMy first thought upon hearing that Falwell had died was a not flattering(to myself). I laughed. Because I do believe that there is an after life and we do have to answer for what we did with our time on Earth. I imagine that ol' Jer went up there, expecting a choir of angels singing him to his reward and instead Jesus was standing there, looking him over.
"That's not what I said, Jerry." and then Christ hits a button and Jerry drops through a trap door, sliding down to his new resting place. A few more thoughts like that and I may end up meeting the man myself.
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