I'm sure there's a made-for-TV movie in the works for this bum (hell, Rev. Leroy Jenkins had one!!). Conservative politicians avoided the funeral like the plague; I'm guessing that the whippoorwills circling overhead made a few of them nervous.
More likely, the Neo-Cons had already sucked the well dry. You wouldn't shed a tear for a used tissue, would you? This bit was on the BBC News site:
"However, many leading Republicans decided not to attend the funeral service in a sign that the political influence of the religious right over the party was waning, correspondents say.
President George W Bush sent a mid-level aide to represent him."
The fact that Bush avoided the funeral was a bit surprising - I'm supposing that Falwell's 'homecoming' was to be the Evangelical event of the year.
According to Dave Zweifel of The Capital Times:
. . . if Jerry Falwell was the great Christian that some folks are claiming, then the pope's an atheist.He was a member of the old guard - a old American xian that gives real xians a bad rep when talking to the straight community. Every prejudice about how narrow-minded, hateful, and un-xian about xians was on polished display when it came to this man. I guess I have to give credit to Bush for distancing himself from that!
Falwell will go down as one of the greatest dividers in American history, a man who used a contorted religion to serve his political and economic ambitions. . . .
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., hit the nail on the head back in 2000 when Falwell and his cohort, Pat Robertson, helped George W. Bush spread malicious gossip about McCain. This is being Christian?
McCain then called Falwell and Robertson "agents of intolerance," a description he retracted this year when he cynically sought to score points with the religious right for the 2008 presidential campaign.
[This is why I would never vote for McCain - I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but he's just like Howard Dean - an uninspiring party puppet.]
McCain then called Falwell and Robertson "agents of intolerance," a description he retracted this year when he cynically sought to score points with the religious right for the 2008 presidential campaign.
As Frank Rich said in the New York Times Sunday, "Mr. Falwell was always on the wrong, intolerant side of history.
Remember this juicy bit? This was an article from CNN?
"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. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"
Falwell, pastor of the 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church, viewed the attacks as God's judgment on America for "throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked." Falwell, pastor of the 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church, viewed the attacks as God's judgment on America for "throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked."
[To his credit (?!), he later recanted the statements (kind of. . . ) ]
"I do believe, as a theologian, based upon many Scriptures and particularly Proverbs 14:23, which says 'living by God's principles promotes a nation to greatness, violating those principles brings a nation to shame,'" he said.
. . .
Falwell told CNN: "I would never blame any human being except the terrorists, and if I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize."
There was a bit of scary banter between this clown and Pat Robertson 2 days after the tower fell, still availabe for your reading enjoyment in an article found on beliefnet.com. YOu definitely want to check this out before you start shedding any tears!
One More Article - Authorities arrest Liberty student who they say planned to go to Falwell funeral with bombs:
LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — A Liberty University student who told a family member he had made bombs and planned to attend the funeral of the Rev. Jerry Falwell was apparently upset about an anti-gay fringe group that protested at the funeral, authorities said.You know, it's really saying something when even a vehemetly homophobic person such as Falwell is branded as 'soft on gays'. I can see it now - Hate-mongers Clash at Falwell funeral, ironically setting the casket ablaze.
Officials were still trying to figure out what Mark David Uhl planned to do with the bombs. Police do not believe he intended to disrupt the funeral Tuesday or harm the Falwell family, Campbell County Sheriff Terry Gaddy said.
Falwell frequently spoke against homosexuality, and gay rights advocates have consistently opposed him. A group of Liberty University students staged a counterprotest; it wasn’t clear whether Uhl was involved.
. . .
Jesse Benson, 19, of Zanesville, Ohio, said he lived with Uhl this year and that both shared the view that the Westboro group is a “sorry, disgraceful bunch of people,” but that he was certain Uhl would never have done anything to harm them.
“He had a very, very deep respect for Jerry Falwell, as do I,” Benson said in a telephone interview. “Jerry Falwell would not have approved him harming anybody for any reason. Out of respect for Jerry Falwell, he never would have done anything.”
Aww, Lardy, Lardy!!
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