Falwell Funeral Missing An Obvious Few

Jerry Falwell is known in politics as the man that brought religion into the voting booth. He helped spur millions of evangelicals to support Republicans like Ronald Reagan and George Bush. In the last few years however, he was increasingly seen as a fringe religious nut by many on the left and the right. So when none of the current GOP Presidential hopefuls showed up to honor his death, it wasn't much of a surprise.

From the AP:

Some Republican figures were expected for the funeral, but none of the party's presidential candidates said they could attend. The White House was sending a midlevel aide. Among the Virginia Republican leaders attending was Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

Falwell, 73, died a week ago after collapsing in his office at Liberty University. His physician said Falwell had a heart condition and presumably died of a heart rhythm abnormality.

Despite the absence of the Presidential contenders, there were approximately 10,000 that showed up for the funeral. Those who attended were quite diverse, including a mid-level White House aide, leaders of the religious right, students of Falwell's Liberty University and protesters of course. One person that thankfully didn't attend was Mark David Uhl, who is currently in jail for planning to bomb the funeral. Despite the long list of terrible things Falwell did with his life, there is no excuse for that type of crap.

Bad Karma For Falwell's Family, Good Karma For A Fallen Soldier

Karma always has a funny way of working itself into daily life. Three separate groups of people united by religion and war in a sad string of events that helped dole out each's respective karmic load. What else could connect Jerry Falwell, Anthony Bradshaw and Fred Phelps?

Anthony Bradshaw was recently killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb. His family's mourning was about to be viciously interrupted by the Westboro Baptist Church, the group that protests military funerals because they believe it is a sign from God due to our tolerance of homosexuality in America. Bradshaw's family was bracing to hear the worst when the group decided to make other plans.

Fred Phelps and Co. changed their minds about ruining Bradshaw's funeral when they heard that Jerry Falwell had died. Apparently for these crazy bastards, not even Falwell was a big enough bigot and anti-gay activist. So they are off to protest his funeral instead. It is awful for his family, but the man brought it on himself.

From The Star-Telegram:

"There are dead soldiers everywhere," Phelps-Roper said. "You don't have a very high-profile, cowardly, lying false prophet like Falwell dying every day."

Phelps-Roper said the group plans to demonstrate at Falwell's service because members believe he was never harsh enough in his declarations that homosexuality was the source of America's problems.

"That coward is afraid. He is ashamed of the Gospel of the Jesus Christ," Phelps-Roper said. "He claimed he had the Word of God and then he hid it."

I'll give Phelps-Roper credit for one thing, she called out Falwell's legacy perfectly. He was most certainly a false-prophet. His living friends Robertson and Dobson and apparent enemy Phelps are among that group. All of these people who come out and spew hatred are disgusting human beings. They may believe in the lord, but I find it hard to believe that Jesus or whomever would ever call for this type of crap. Karma hasn't hit them yet, but it will in due time.

Falwell's Heart Takes Him Out At 73

The world lost a great purveyor of hate and intolerance yesterday as Jerry Falwell died from heart complications. His career spanned more than 30 years as he helped build the religious right in the 1970s with his Moral Majority operation, that helped lead to Ronald Reagan's victory and the growing tide of anti-gay sentiment that can be found on the right.

From The Huffington Post:

The rise of Christian conservatism _ and the Moral Majority's full-throated condemnation of homosexuality, abortion and pornography _ made Falwell perhaps the most recognizable figure on the evangelical right, and one of the most controversial ones, too.

Over the years, Falwell waged a landmark libel case against Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt over a raunchy parody ad, and created a furor in 1999 when one of his publications suggested that the purse-carrying "Teletubbies" character Tinky Winky was gay.

Matt Foreman, executive director of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, extended condolences to those close to Falwell, but added: "Unfortunately, we will always remember him as a founder and leader of America's anti-gay industry, someone who exacerbated the nation's appalling response to the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic, someone who demonized and vilified us for political gain and someone who used religion to divide rather than unite our nation."

While I pray for his family and extend condolences, I find it hard to empathize for the man that has done so much to set us back as a nation. The notable stories about the tele-tubbies, the lawsuit against Larry Flynt and his statements blaming liberals et al for 9/11 are sad and amusing. It was the years of preaching intolerance and bigotry against those he feared that I will remember most. The organization he built up that spread so much disease in the nation's collective conscience will never be forgotten....and never forgiven, in life or in death.

Family Guy Examines The Religious Right

Family Guy has to be one of the most intense cartoons on network television. It seems that a bunch of animated characters can take on almost any political issue out there and make you laugh out loud. Of course you may just laugh at the real life scenario without the cartoon commentary. When it comes to the religious right, their hypocritical actions are downright hilarious. Here we have a Ted Haggart tangent in a scene between Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

From C & L:

While searching for his missing beloved teddy bear Rupert, Stewie tells Brian that without him he'd be lonlier than Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell after the rapture. God I love this show.

Download (1221) | Play (1307) Download (668) | Play (830)

Robertson: Damn it, Jerry. Why are we the only ones still here?

Falwell: I don't know. We hated all the right things.

What comes next will make liberals laugh and evangelicals that adore these figures cringe.