Falwell

I just read the news that televangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell was found dead this morning in his office at Liberty University. He was 73.

I readily admit that I have never been a fan of Rev. Falwell. Just about everything having to do with him rubbed me the wrong way as a Christian, especially as an evangelical protestant Christian minister.

I took issue with his role in the aftermath of the Rev. Baker scandal (again, another with whom I was not a big fan), and how his greed for wealth seemed to be the driving force for his involvement. I took issue with how he wielded his Moral Majority in the political scene, and used it as an instrument of judgment. I took issue with his claims of receiving direct communications from God, which he then in turn relayed to his faithful. Almost always these were messages of intolerance, and at times, of outright hatred. I took issue (albeit in a more humorous way) when he claimed that a Teletubbie was gay (simply because it was purple and sometimes carried a handbag - as far as I could tell with the few times I watched it, they weren't male or female...they weren't people...they were blobs) and a threat to the children of America. I took major issue with statements he made following 9/11. He said, "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians...the ACLU and the People for the American Way" were to blame for that tragedy. Because, as he added, "God will not be mocked." He said similar things following Hurricane Katrina. But I think what I took most issue with, when it came to Rev. Falwell, was that he took away my voice, and others like me, who are evangelical protestant Christians, by claiming to speak for the church entire. What I have come to realize is that his hubris to claim that mantle is not the only fault. It is also mine, and those like me, who had remained too quiet for too long, and did not speak up loudly enough early enough during his reign.

And so, although I was no fan of Rev. Falwell, I do give him credit where credit is due. He was able to get Christians off of their backsides, and into the mainstream of the politcial conversation of our country. Some of them to join him. Others of us to oppose him and to speak up with another view of Christ and God's love.

Although I am interested in the conversation taking place in the realms of heaven on this day, I do not question this man's heart. He believed in Christ as his Savior, and lived accordingly.

Peace be to his memory.