Remembering America’s Apostle of Hate
In Salon this morning there is a bizarre non-eulogy to Jerry Falwell that is an exercise in pure wishful thinking. “Conservative Christianity has been trying to recover from Falwell for the past two decades,” Alan Wolfe writes, presumably in between bong hits. “With the maturation of American evangelicalism has come an interest in social justice, environmentalism and peace. The people who represent evangelical Protestantism’s future want little or nothing to do with injustice, pollution and war.”
That would be lovely if it were true, but it’s not. Conservative evangelical Christians in America are for the most part perfect clones of Falwell; they are the army of hate that he created. They are the people who voted for Bush, the people who watch Fox News, the people who glorify war and laugh at torture. They are the people who want to put women back in the kitchen and gays back in the closet and a giant styrofoam replica of the Ten Commandments on every courthouse lawn. Anti-equality, anti-religious freedom, anti-peace, anti-knowledge; pro-war, pro-torture, pro-intolerance, pro-hatred, pro-stupidity. Like this:
“The Equal Rights Amendment can never do for women what needs to be done for them. Women need to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and be under His Lordship. They need a man who knows Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, and they need to be a part of a home where their husband is a godly leader and where there is a Christian family.”
-Jerry Falwell
“I listen to feminists and all these radical gals – most of them are failures. They’ve blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That’s all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they’re mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They’re sexist. They hate men – that’s their problem.”
-Jerry Falwell
“It appears that America’s anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men’s movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.”
-Jerry Falwell
[re: 9/11 attacks] “…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 try to secularize America…I point the thing in their face and say “you helped this happen.””
-Jerry Falwell
“[homosexuals are] brute beasts…part of a vile and satanic system [that] will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven.”
-Jerry Falwell
“AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”
-Jerry Falwell
“Homosexuality is Satan’s diabolical attack upon the family that will not only have a corrupting influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring down the wrath of God upon America.”
-Jerry Falwell
“I do not believe we can blame genetics for adultery, homosexuality, dishonesty and other character flaws.”
-Jerry Falwell
“If you’re not a born-again Christian, you’re a failure as a human being.”
-Jerry Falwell
“The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.”
-Jerry Falwell
“God is pro-war.”
-Jerry Falwell
“Can you imagine the insolence of these [anti-war] protesters? … They have the audacity to disparage and demean these courageous soldiers who are enduring great physical and emotional trauma because they believed in the effort to bring freedom to Iraq.”
-Jerry Falwell
“The media have a widely-held agenda (that doesn’t include support of President Bush) and they are not about to tarnish the image of anti-war protesters by showing them for what they actually are …With this tyrannical approach to the news, it’s really no wonder so many Americans don’t take the networks seriously anymore. And it’s no wonder that conservative Internet news sites have grown by leaps and bounds.”
-Jerry Falwell
“God is a Republican.”
-Jerry Falwell
“The idea that religion and politics don’t mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.”
-Jerry Falwell
“The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.”
-Jerry Falwell
“There’s been a concerted effort to steal Christmas.”
-Jerry Falwell
“The argument that making contraceptives available to young people would prevent teen pregnancies is ridiculous. That’s like offering a cookbook as a cure to people who are trying to lose weight. “
-Jerry Falwell
“The whole [global warming] thing is created to destroy America’s free enterprise system and our economic stability.”
-Jerry Falwell
“I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!”
-Jerry Falwell
“Textbooks are Soviet propaganda.”
-Jerry Falwell
“Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.”
-Jerry Falwell
8 Responses to “Remembering America’s Apostle of Hate”
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2sheds says:
When I heard the news – all I had to say was hooray! And he called everyone else ignorant. Ha!
May 16th, 2007 at 5:00 pm EST -
Violet says:
Yes. My mother is the sweetest person in the world and I have never heard her express anything remotely approaching pleasure over someone’s death — but when she told me the news yesterday I could almost hear the gleam in her eye.
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will says:
A vile venomous man is dead. I cannot be upset.
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cicely says:
I once saw a bumper sticker I thought nicely addressed this monster, his ilk and their followers…it read:
‘Hate is not a family value.’
A journalist in The Australian this morning also wrote something along the lines of that Salon piece. Or at least that people are saying Falwell’s passing is not only the death of a man but the end of an era. I guess at least his death could be used to fuel thought and discussion and an unravelling of his ‘work’ over his life. It’s a moment to seize anyway.
I think your list of quotes goes there, Violet, and I hope lots and lots of people see such lists over the coming weeks and months who’d never really put it all together before and truly understood how poisonous he was. Maybe they’ll also come to understand that these are the kinds of ideas behind certain christian movements in other countries too, who’ve followed Falwell’s lead and aligned with or formed political parties, often under some banner of christian or family values. They’re here in Oz and over in NZ but as yet, though their presence is being felt, their influence hasn’t grown to alarmingly dangerous levels. May they never.
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simply wondered says:
“It appears that America’s anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God…”
“oops my mistake it’s me urrrrgh…”
tho at least he believes in the grinch: “There’s been a concerted effort to steal Christmas.” not totally batshit, then. it makes me want to believe that god is waiting to give him a really stern talking to.oooh of course god is the non-benign patriarch of the old testament and is waiting to rip out his internal organs and feed them to him through a fucking straw. or better she’s a gay black woman – and just a little pissed off, you’d imagine. win some, lose some, jerry!
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Kaitlyn says:
I’m glad I’m not the only one who was a little bit happy at the news.
However, these quotes have been around forever, they’re all over the tubes of the interweb, and people still support him.
What he started won’t die with him, he’s been doing it too long.
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Infidel says:
…which is why we have to put a muzzle on Garrison Kieiler now and keep those, “doesn’t bother me none”s, from poisoning impressionable Salon readers.
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bliss says:
May he rest in peace… LMAO
