Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Editorial: Falwell's judgment day
The Rev. Jerry Falwell died Tuesday. A lifetime spent judging others has ended.
From the RoundTable blog
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The Rev. Jerry Falwell met with his maker Tuesday. We hope he was embraced by a loving, forgiving God. Falwell did enough judging for any one man here on Earth during his 73 years.
His most dramatic proclamation -- one for which he would apologize but that cost him many supporters -- came in the days following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Falwell blamed it on gays, lesbians, feminists and liberals. He commonly attacked these groups as being responsible for the moral decay of our society.
Throughout his career, Falwell carried his remarks far beyond the pulpit, becoming one of the first and most successful televangelists.
He then parlayed his popularity into trying to run the nation. He founded the Moral Majority, which claims among its credits the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the Republican takeover of Congress and the religious right's takeover of the Republican Party.
It was Falwell's interjection of religion into government and his insistence that those who did not subscribe to his fundamentalist beliefs were against God and country that were so offensive.
This isn't to say that Falwell always traveled the wrong path.
He was blessed with the ability to raise large sums through donations. Much was spent grooming political candidates, but through his ministry he also tended to alcoholics and unwed mothers.
And Falwell emphasized the importance of education, though it tended toward the indoctrination of young minds to his teachings through his Christian elementary schools.
In his later years, Falwell devoted much of his energies to expanding his Liberty University, which currently educates 7,700 students. He invested much in the Lynchburg community, was one of its largest employers and provided the moral compass that his many followers sought.
Falwell was as fallible as any man, capable of doing both good and harm. It is not for us to stand in judgment of which, if either, prevailed.
