I'm confused about something. When Jerry Falwell dropped dead this week he was heralded as one of the "commanding generals" in the culture war. It's been presented that what Falwell did over the past 50 years and what he did to the United States of America for the past three decades was a good thing.
Falwell was an egocentric prick who used Jesus Christ to advance his personal agenda. The problem is that Falwell was another worthless televangelist who used religion to advance his personal cause. It was not "the word" that Falwell celebrated, it was Falwell.
Serving as the mouthpiece for holier-than-thou evangelicals allowed Falwell to gain fame. This effort filled the coffers at Liberty University. Yes, it was Liberty that was the great work of Jerry Falwell's life.
Interesting that the founder of The Moral Majority was busted on charges of "fraud and deceit" filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was convicted of issuing $6.5 million in uninsured bonds which led to his school filing for bankruptcy and losing millions in church investors' money. You don't hear much about that.
The Moral Majority. That is one of the ultimate contradictions in terms. Morals are an interesting thing; people tend to think whatever belief system they cling to is right. Falwell, though, had the insight that he could brand and sell it. Funny, Jerry Falwell took credit for Ronald Reagan winning the Presidency in 1980. Reagan was, without question, the great communicator, had an extraordinary marketing machine and didn't need one ounce of help from Jerry Falwell to get the job done.
In the grand scheme of things, the state of affairs in the United States of America would not be as screwed up as they are today if John Hinckley Jr. would have blown Falwell's brains out instead of taking out Jim Brady.
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A little late for this comment and I can't believe no one else posted one before mine, but even though I generally don't like to speak ill of the dead, I have to agree with what you say. Maybe one day we Americans will get over the fact that everyone spouting the name of Jesus Christ is not honorable or good. These modern day hucksters are no better than the old snake oil salesmen.
I missed a lot while in the moving process and it's fun to start to catch up on the blog reading.
I still remember my reaction when Falwell died. I said to my husband: One less piece of garbage on Earth.
Crude I know, but very honest and expressing exactly the way I feel about manipulative people who bought the truth and therefore own it forever under their sleeves to attack others and to prove that their truth is the only one which matters in complete disregard with reality.
Falwell was one more of those vampires, a self-righteous bunch of hypocrites who think they have sole ownership of God and are the only moral force on the Planet. The problem is that they are here, Karl Rowe is the "brain" underneath McCain's campaign.
All they want it's a theocracy and more people to dominate. I say it's disgusting!
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