Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Remembering Falwell

Was out to lunch at Cici's when word came over the idiot box that Falwell's ticket had in fact been punched. Fox News currently has nonstop coverage, as if Falwell was some kind of head of state (and I guess in many ways he was), and naturally, spinning a complete hagiography. Just as naturally, there was no mention of what you're going to read here. Remember that the preacherman who's being hailed as "compassionate" by Fox's army of sycophants once made the compassionate remark that "If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being." Guess that must be some of that Christian Love™ we keep hearing about.

Ganked from the ACT UP site: A partial transcript of Falwell and Robertson on The 700 Club, September 13, 2001:

JERRY FALWELL: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters — the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats — what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact — if, in fact — God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.

PAT ROBERTSON: Well yes.

JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, 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. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. 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."

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.

JERRY FALWELL: Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged". In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time — calling upon God.

PAT ROBERTSON: Amen!

Falwell later attempted an insincere apology for these remarks.

Another brilliant insight from the Falwellian Hit Parade was his famous remark about the Antichrist: "Who will the Antichrist be? I don't know. Nobody else knows. Is he alive and here today? Probably. Because when he appears during the Tribulation period he will be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course he'll be Jewish. Of course he'll pretend to be Christ. And if in fact the Lord is coming soon, and he'll be an adult at the presentation of himself, he must be alive somewhere today."

Aaaaand — cue another insincere apology.

Then we get around to Falwell's ludicrous antiscience ravings, such as the time he dismissed global warming as "Satan's attempt to redirect the church's primary focus" from evangelism to environmentalism. Let's see...here we have a majority of the world's scientists agreeing that human activity has led to measurable climate change, we have Al Gore appearing in an intensively researched documentary bringing these facts to the public, and this is in turn dismissed by a clown who thought it was all a big prank on the part of a mythical being with horns and a pitchfork and a pointy tail. Does lunacy or idiocy describe it better? Discuss.

I'd like to think that things will change with Falwell's passing. But of course, fundamentalist tribalism, hate and intolerance, and its concomitant superstitious tomfoolery will continue unabated. Who will check out next — Pat, Tim, DJK — and how many contortions will the lapdogs in the mainstream media twist themselves into, to convince viewers of what shining examples of unimpeachable rectitude they were?

11 comments:

  1. "If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."

    Jerry Falwell

    ReplyDelete
  2. So, the ACLU and the lesbians are to blame for 9-1-1? I noticed that "religion" was oddly missing from their list of those responsible. Odd, since I don't recall any of the attackers being hailed as feminist or civil rights heroes. But were they hailed as religious heros? Yes.

    Something to think about.

    If I didn't understand Xianity as part of my culture, and I read that exchange, I'd be totally bewildered by it. It makes no rational sense whatsoever _except_ in the context of Modern American Xianity.

    Another point is this: How do we know when death is god's punishment (like 9-11) or when people simply died as the result of a non-god act (like they'll claim is the case for Falwell)? If death means god has a vendetta against you--who pissed off god to the point he killed religious leader Falwell today? Who's _really_ to blame here?

    I say, it's the Texas Legislators. God hated those men and women so much that he killed Falwell as a clear warning. It's obviously due to the latest religious legislation that has passed or is up for a vote:

    1. Putting "In God We Trust" in the Legislative chambers.

    2. Allowing prayer meetings during school hours.

    3. Adding "under god" to the Texas pledge.

    4. Allowing a Bible class as an elective in the schools.

    The Texas Legislators have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. I really believe that the Texas Legislators who are actively trying to gut the Constitution and force religion onto people legislatively — all of them who have tried to unsecularize our state — I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

    God is not a power tool for the Texas Vote-Whores of Babylon.

    The Texas Legislature killed Falwell--same as if they'd put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. God loves the Constitution. We'd better stop messing with it, or, I guarantee, more people will die! If not today, then tomorrow, or later this week!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hmm...I just had a dream last night that Pat Robertson would die. I swear to Osiris that it's true!

    Maybe my prayers are working but I haven't got the address system down yet. I could be on to something!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tracie -- I think the better thing to do would be to find out what Falwell has been spending his time and energy working on the most, these past few days or weeks. ~Obviously~ (*snark*) God Struck Him Down to prevent Falwell from completing whatever evil, God-mocking scheme he was cooking up at the time. (After all, Falwell ~was~ discovered unconscious in his office....)

    (/snark)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was just browsing through some of the "Carnival of the Godless" links from a few posts back, and discovered...

    GOD
    You da man, Pat. Look, gotta run. Always enjoy our little chin-wags. Give the wife a kiss, and tell Falwell to lay off the fuckin' eclairs. I don't want his fat ass up here that soon. Shit.


    Martin, yer a prophet!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Let's not let that get out, okay, Alyx!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jerry Falwell was, as some Christian friends of mine elaborated, at the top of the list as to reasons "Why People Think Christians are Stupid."

    His enduring ignorance, lies, and divisive rhetoric will, hopefully, be his only legacy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. >Tracie -- I think the better thing to do would be to find out what Falwell has been spending his time and energy working on the most, these past few days or weeks. ~Obviously~ (*snark*) God Struck Him Down to prevent Falwell from completing whatever evil, God-mocking scheme he was cooking up at the time. (After all, Falwell ~was~ discovered unconscious in his office....)

    I actually made the disconnect on purpose. In the exchange Martin posted, all the people in the towers were killed because of lesbians and abortions--although they had nothing whatsoever to do with gay rights or a woman's right to choose. That's what I meant in my first section, when I said it made no sense. It was "ala" Fred Phelps: God hates gays, so he kills U.S. soldiers...WTF???

    It's the total disconnect between those punished (911) and those "responsible" (gays and abortions rights advocates) that confused me.

    ReplyDelete
  9. They actually mentioned all of these things on MSNBC. They even went over the McCain fued showing some of McCain's right on comments about Falwell's true agenda. But you are definitely right about Faux News. They keep talking about what a great man he was... Make me want to cringe.

    Falwell was no Dr. King. He was a backwards-ass conservative who beat his head against the wall of change for decades and to little avail. In time, few will remember his name as anything other than a dead bigot from a bygone era.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's the total disconnect between those punished (911) and those "responsible" (gays and abortions rights advocates) that confused me.

    Ah yes, I see now. *g* Sort of like that bad flooding along the Mississippi River back in... what... the early 90's? that that Operation Rescue wingnut said was "God's punishment on America for abortion, because the states that got flooded so bad (all nice, Republican, fundie states btw) were... um... America's breadbasket, and see, that means grain prices will be higher and so all those evil abortionists and abortion-condoners will have to pay more for food and.... Pay Attention, Dammit! I speak for God!!! He'll smite you too, yes He will!!"

    ReplyDelete
  11. It totally explains how absolutely _anything_ can make sense to some people, though. When a person can say that killing a tower full of international business people in NY is clearly the result of upity women, having nothing to do with the business people that died...or that god wiped out an island with a tsunami because he hates gay Scandinavian men.

    It sort of explains how the plan of salvation can make sense: You sin; god creates a sinless person; god kills him. You're exonerated.

    Perfectly reasonable...?

    Anything can make sense if I am allowed to simply "make up" causation without any real evidence to support my perceived cause and effect.

    But it's odd: If god really hates Scandinavian gays, why not destroy gay hang outs in Scandinavia, rather than kill a bunch of hetero island people and their children and animals? Surely that would make god's point more clearly? If every time a Scandinavian gay bar was built, god struck it down with some catastrophe the moment it opened, there might be some more logical/direct connection there for people to "get" his point. So that we aren't left speculating as to "why" god did X.

    It would be like grounding your daughter five years after your son did something bad--and expecting him/her to understand the message.

    Likewise, why not just magically cut power to all abortion clinics? Killing a bunch of international business people just seems--I don't know--sort of "off topic"?

    You'd think an omniscent deity would be capable of clearer communcation than all of this craziness...?

    ReplyDelete

PLEASE NOTE: The Atheist Experience has moved to a new location, and this blog is now closed to comments. To participate in future discussions, please visit http://www.freethoughtblogs.com/axp.

This blog encourages believers who disagree with us to comment. However, anonymous comments are disallowed to weed out cowardly flamers who hide behind anonymity. Commenters will only be banned when they've demonstrated they're nothing more than trolls whose behavior is intentionally offensive to the blog's readership.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.