Saturday, May 19, 2007

Jerry Falwell Has Left the Building

Not that I have scoured the internet for tell of his demise, and report of his life, times, and reactions to his departure, the essay that I quote below, likely sums up my . . . core . . . sentiments fairly well.

I have covered that "Spiritual Bully" thing before (or some idea basically akin to it), it should be no suprise that this writer's take appeals to me:



"My initial reaction to the Rev. Falwell's death was, and remains, relief -- not unlike the ease I felt when a particularly nasty bully who used to spit at me on the playground and threaten to beat me up after school moved to another town.

The Rev. Falwell was a spiritual bully. He was the Tony Soprano to Pat Robertson's Paulie Walnuts.

People who know both of us have told me over the years that we'd probably have liked each other, the Rev. Falwell and I, that he was an affable, almost jolly man, not nearly as smug and awful as his public persona made him out to be.

I'm sure, were he real, Tony Soprano also would make a charming dinner companion, sharing his lasagna and an expensive bottle of Orvieto while telling great stories and asking how your grandmother's doing in the home. And then he'd have you whacked and thrown over the side of his deep-sea fishing boat. But he'd send flowers to the funeral.

After all, as another famous as another famous Christian leader once told me by way of explaining how some evangelicals turn on each other (never mind their perceived enemies): "We shoot our own." "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathleen-falsani/falwell-a-spiritual-bull_b_48806.html


Granted, that is as harsh as she gets, and well she does try to keep the door open to the possibility that Falwell made it to heaven.

Hit the link for more. The next best part was her speculation on what The Rev's meeting with Jesus could look like.

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