Disclaimer-my former best friend from years past is the son of a man who now sits on the board of Liberty University. As such, I can personally attest to the fact that, yes, these folks really do believe, for the most part, the things they say. You can take that for what it’s worth.
I waited some time to comment on the passing of Jerry Falwell, as it would have been too easy for me to launch into a tirade about some of his more odious pronouncements. After all, I am one of those pagans who, in regards to 9/11, “helped this to happen”, as he put it.
Aside from this, my main objection to the man is not his belief in Christianity, with all its attendant insistences that it is the "only way to heaven". All conservative Christians pretty much believe that anyway. I have gotten used to that by now.
No, my main objection to him would stem from his opposition to free speech as evidenced by his suit against Larry Flint, over an admittedly gross parody in which Falwell was portrayed as engaging in a drunken and incestuous relationship with his own mother, in an outhouse at that. Yet, it was an obvious parody that was never intended to be taken seriously. It was actually a cartoon ad parody concerning a brand of liquor.
Falwell lost the suit, and the entire, actually somewhat ridiculous episode, was enshrined in the Woody Harrelson film, The People versus Larry Flint.
Pretty much anything else I would have to say negative about him would not involve any of his beliefs, either his religious or spiritual ones, so much as his seeming willingness to accede to limits to the rights of those who disagreed with him within the public arena. That, however, is an easily arrived at assumption, one that he himself actually denied.
He denied many such things, of course, and backtracked on many statements that he was legitimately criticized about. It can all be summed up with the observation that Falwell was by nature an ordinary kind of man, who in the face of constant media exposure and publicity said a lot of things that were thoughtless and even stupid, and in many cases realized this as well as anyone. Most of us would probably have the same problem, if we were to find ourselves in a similarly constant spotlight.
On the other hand, maybe he knew exactly what he was doing when he said these things, and tried to have it both ways, pleasing his base of supporters while then thinking of ways to reassure those who might have been legitimately offended.
He has been called a true man of God, and a hypocrite. Could he possibly have been both? I have to wonder. Maybe, maybe not would be my ultimate decision. Seeing as I never believed in a perfect god, that is not a contradictory position.
What I do know is I am an adherent to one version of a principle by which, if you say something bad about the deceased, you should find something good to say about him as well. And so, here goes:
And no, what is about to follow is not numerous lines of blank space. What is about to follow is, however, fairly brief. Brief, but significant.
Falwell did not believe in abortion, and was a fierce opponent of abortion rights, at least of the Supreme Court decision of Roe v.Wade. He would in time come to moderate his position, on at least one occasion anyway, with the statement that abortion in the case of rape, incest, and the life of the mother might be acceptable.
However, in this instance, regarding his anti-abortion position, he put his and his parishioners money where his and their mouths were. He founded a home for pregnant unwed mothers, geared especially toward unwed pregnant teen girls, so that they might have their children in a safe and healthy environment, and would then work to find suitable adoptive parents for the infants.
More importantly, he provided a bulwark against an increasingly nutty political environment that has lasted to this day.
He stood up for the rights of Christians to worship in the public arena without being harassed. Well, after all, that was his base of support, so why not?
He also stood up to the nonsensical cultural climate that has evolved, where every word is subject to scrutiny and a charge of latent racism or bigotry, and any terminology used in public discourse must past a litmus test of cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness.
He was unabashedly pro-American, and though we might have been at odds concerning when was the proper time to conduct a war and against whom, I can appreciate his belief that, when there was a war, it should be fought with the kid gloves off.
He also stood up to the more unreasonable aspects of Democratic party politics, against such policies as, for example, gun control, and other similarly misguided nonsense.
In fact, Falwell may have more than any other single individual been the reason these policies were reversed, in some cases before they might have done real and permanent damage.
When I think of some of these more positive aspects of his contributions to public life, I can easily forgive a lot of the more negative ones. In fact, I consider the trade-off in the long run a positive.
