Farewell Falwell

           The passing of Jerry Falwell has resulted in many different feelings across the country.  Many people are wondering how he will be remembered.  I think that the most significant legacy of the late Reverend is how he used modern technology to bring Hatred to Christianity. 

       While Hatred and religion have co-mingled in the past, from the crusades and the spanish inquisition to the taliban and abortion clinic bombers, Jerry Falwell was one of the first to broadcast this hatred through modern media technology.

       Falwell and others like him such as Pat Robertson, have so influenced people through their media messages, that many people now equate Christianity with hatred and ignorance.  In fact, their very same brand of hateful religion is rearing its ugly head at the Falwell funeral in the form of the Wesboro Baptist Church of Kansas.  Their small clan of hateful parishoners are going to be in full force claiming that Falwell went straight to hell and is burning there now.

       Lovely folks like these are the result of Falwell's life work of promoting a message of religious hatred.

       Tragic as Falwell's legacy of hatred is, one must wonder...   What ever happened to the real message of Christianity and Jesus?  The message of Universal Love?  The message of Turn the other cheek and coming to understanding with your fellow human beings?  Instead of promoting the real message of Jesus, Falwell dove into power plays and politics, fueling his own ego and empire, destroying the goodness of Jesus's message, and instead promoted a message opposite to that of Jesus.

        Falwell in Hell?  Well, if there is a christian style afterlife, I am sure that Falwell will have a very difficult time explaining why he turned Jesus and Christianity into a force of hatred and ignorance.  What we do know however is that his memory will live on as the person who brought Hatred to Christianity for many Americans.