Memories of Jerry

To start, I'll state that I wish no person harm or take pleasure in their pain. I hope that the Falwell family is left alone to grieve and remember their relative. I'm not looking forward to the media's barrage of updates and impending retrospectives of a "beloved religious and moral leader." It's unfair to do such things to the recently deceased and their families.

I'll also say that Falwell was not unintelligent. Oh, he wasn't wise enough to put together that being decent to other humans is one of the smartest things a human can do, but he knew how to play the game he played. He was clever in the way that some chess players and war planners can be. Given that he wasn't a mere fundamentalist lemming, I'm willing to bet that his final personal moments were filled with panic and contemplation of the end of his consciousness.

What follows is Jerry on a variety of issues.

On 9-11:

a) In 2001, Falwell had to apologize after televised comments in which he described the September 11, 2001, terrorists attacks as a judgment on America for "throwing God out of the public square."

"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," he said. "I point the finger in their face and say 'You helped this happen.' "

A day later, he told CNN that he would "never blame any human being except the terrorists, and if I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I
apologize."

b) The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.

c) I put all the blame legally and morally on the actions of the terrorist, [but America's]
secular and anti-Christian environment left us open to our Lord's [decision] not to protect. When a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture ... the result is not good.

On Aids:

AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharaoh's charioteers . . . AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals." (circa 1991)

On the Antichrist:

Since Jesus came to the earth the first time 2,000 years ago as a Jewish male, many evangelicals believe the Antichrist will, by necessity, be a Jewish male. This belief is 2,000 years old and has no anti-Semitic roots. This is simply historic and prophetic orthodox Christian doctrine that many theologians, Christian and non-Christian, have understood for two millennia."

On Christian driving:

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.

On hookers:

Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.(Crossfire 1997)

On education:

"I hope to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we don't have public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them."

On civil rights:

"I do question the sincerity of people like the Reverend Martin Luther King..."

Note: The various links above contain the references. When I couldn't find a decent reference, I left out the quote. Since Falwell was a public figure, some items were said more than once, in slightly different ways.