When I think about Falwell's actually position in the political movement of the religious right, I always think about Hyman Roth's conversation with Michael Corleone when Michael visits him in Miami in Godfather Part II, when they're discussing Frank Pentangeli, the capo of the Corleone crime family back in New York. Roth waves his hand and shrugs, dismissing Pentangeli by saying, "He's small potatoes."

I disagreed with him on many issues, but I will be darned if I will show any joy in his passing. As a lefty, I am saddened by the many progressive sites that viciously attacked him after word of his death. Let that practice belong to only the Limbaughs, Delays and others of their ilk.

May he rest in peace?

the many progressive sites that viciously attacked him after word of his death.

Charges like that need attributions sir. The only person I can immediately come up with demeaning Jerry is Chris Hitchens, and that drunkard is no progressive and has no site. Hitchens only attacked Falwell and called him names in order to promote his new book.

In 2002 and 2003 I had a job that required travel to Virginia and yes I did visit Lynchburg. Now part of this job was selling to retailers and I spent a good 3 hours with the owner of a large successful book store, built to appeal to the general public and full of the kind of liberal material that a fundamentalist mind might have trouble appreciating.

After we had concluded business and I knew the buyer was approachable I asked - what's it like to run a place like this next to Falwell? how do you do it? And he just explained to me that although he had had some grief in the past, he had good lawyers and that in general the people who circulate in his store do not circulate in the fundi church and vis versa.
It was my first real a-ha moment about "the two Americas" Two separate cultures and worldviews living in the same nation. It was reassuring to see the modern worldview well represented in Lynchburg VA.

Sure is funny, ain't it, about how Falwell is percieved in Lynchburg, and how he is portrayed in the national media!

Who appointed him and Robertson co-popes (the Catholic church has had similiar situations) of the Baptists? Wouldn't be the MSM, would it?

Why would MJR want to comment on this?

As a lefty, I am saddened by the many progressive sites that viciously attacked him after word of his death.

I didn't see any of this. Concern Troll, perhaps?

Just a few observations, not so much on Falwell himself, but what his passing may show about the weaknesses of the Religious Right.  While most of us on the secular or religious left were immune to it, Falwell, like so many (Aimee Semple MacPherson, Billy Sunday, or even Father Coughlan come to mind) was a person of great charisma.  Charisma, as far as I know, isn't a genetic trait, and it is unlikely that he will be able to pass his charisma to his sons, who inherit his role in his church and university.  The same might be said about Billy Graham, a far less divisive character.  His son, Franklin Graham has inherited the organization, but not, it seems, the ability to hold the Fundamentalist right in cooperation with Catholics and other religious denominations.  He winds up being denounced from some of the same pulpits which welcomed his father.

Falwell's organization, in his elder days, was in deep financial trouble, and I gather it remains so now.  Some of the sources which have come to his relief are pretty, hmm...exceptional?  Falwell and the Moonies?  Today, the Roanoke Times speculates whether the institutions Falwell founded can survive his passing.  The Mainstream Media seems predominantly critical of the movement even when recognizing his personal charm, which tells me they don't worry too too much about offending his following. The Concord Monitor's editorial, Jerry Falwell's Greatest Hates,  is pretty scathing, not only about Falwell, but others of his ilk. Even the Lynchburg News and Advance is more impressed by the fact that Falwell put Lynchburg on the map than it is by any prophetic stature he might have had.  

Ann Coulter, on the other hand, thinks he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, or at least since Ronald Reagan, but it seems to me that at long last Coulter is also past her peak.  I pondered whether to include a link to the Ann Coulter piece, but decided that I would, giving fair warning not to eat one hour before or one hour after reading her.

Pat Robertson is 77.  James Dobson just turned 71. Cults of Personality and Charismatic Leadership Styles don't often survive their founders, and when they do, they are often mere shadows of their former selves.  Not only are the founders aging, but so are their followers.  The generation of contesting inheritors, the Ralph Reeds of the world, have mired themselves in scandal, much the way the Bush Whitehouse has mired itself in scandal.

As far as the religious right goes, I'm fairly sanguine for the above reasons, and because historians always remember "this, too, will pass".  No Nostradamus, me, I venture that if the economy really tanks, the Evangelical Left (there is one, and it is growing) will be the next thing to watch--as a potential ally.

aMike

Small Update:

I don't know how many follow the Cartoon Weblog of Daryl Cagle, but here's a Collection of Cartonist's Views on Fallwell's Passing.

Okay, you're right that I shouldn't have used the word "liberal," even as modified by "relatively," with respect to the Lynchburg papers. "Relatively moderate" might be more accurate. Maybe my perception of the News-Advance was influenced by comparison with the other newspaper circulating in Amherst, the truly dreadful and reactionary Charlottesville Progress (or Regress, as it's often called).

My Dad heard Falwell on TV once talking about raising money for children someplace. I can't remember the deatils. But I do remember my Dad being turned off by all the mail he received after what he thought was a one time donation.
Reminds me of the politicans .. what have you given me TODAY?

I met a man from Lynchburg who told me his parents went to a service at Thomas Road church.
The church was raising money for some cause and he said they locked the doors so nobody could leave until they felt they had gotten enough donations. I don't know if that is true, but I would be very reluctant to give if I was being held hostage!

Bonnie
http://pupart.1hwy.com/

Because MJ made at least two posts about right-wing reactions to tragedy: Halberstam's death and Elizabeth Edwards' recurrence of cancer. In both these posts he made the point that the right wing is more vicious than the left. I just want to read his take on comments on KOS, etc.

Still though, it doesn't explain why Hitchens has had no problem with Bush and his minions saying the truly insane things they have. Why Hitchens has had not one problem to the blood for oil game.

Seriously, why hold him up as any bastion of anything?

Nope, you're the first, and I don't much agree. But in case you're right, I was heartened to run aross this article entitled: "John Hodgman: PC Guy From Apple Ads Way Smarter Than Mac Guy." 

I suppose anything can happen in 30 years, but the idea that the Lynchburg paper is more progressive than the Charlottesville paper is shocking. The anointment of the name "Daily Regress" was by frat boys who objected to anything that interfered with their god given right to have loud beer parties at any time they wanted.

While I try not to find joy in anyone's passing, make no mistake the world will be a better place without that sob. As a 30 year resident of Central Virginia, 22 of them in Lynchburg, I have seen first hand what a hate mongering, self-righteous, misanthrope hid behind the porcine smiling face.

He encouraged his followers hate for Jews and blacks as long as he could get away with it and when he couldn't he went after gays. I for one won't miss seeing him in the local eateries shoving ribs and biscuits and gravy down his craw.

On a lighter note, Ed, what brought you to Amherst? Sweet Briar?

For what it is worth, as a completely objective observer, miggs, have you had your eyes checked recently? John H looks a lot more like Karl Rove than Ed.

Jan

God is not a respecter of personalities, but a God who loves persons and their love for one another.

Honor: Ilsa's and Rick's decisions in Casablanca.

As much as I detested his religious political organization and it's agenda I take no joy from the passing of the man Jerry Falwell. We are all born and we all eventually die. I take no joy from the cycle of life playing out. But Falwell had become marginalized in terms of being a force in hateful movement he was instrumental in building.

Is there a "God"? No one can say for sure. But if there is I do not believe in "Falwell's God". If there is a God, one which created this beautiful planet and wonderous universe, I can't believe it would be an intolerent, hateful and judgemental diety full of angry vengeance...the one in which Falwell believed.

I would be very happy if the hateful movement that Falwell created would  have died, instead of Falwell himself.

Concern troll, definitely.

No, I bought a house there, for very complicated reasons, and lived there three to four days a week for a little over four years. And as I've observed on occasion in my own blog, NewDonkey.com, Amherst is interesting in that its population is sort of split between those who work and/or shop and eat in Charlottesville and those oriented towards Lynchburg. And even though Charlottesville has a million advantages over Lynchburg in conveniences and sophistication, I found myself more drawn towards Lynchburg, partly because of C'Ville's deeply entrenched snootiness. Or maybe it's just the cracker in me.

In any event, my generally (though not completely) positive feelings about Lynchburg motivated my post. I managed to spend a lot of time there without experiencing much of the baleful presence of Falwell; I never even laid eyes on Thomas Road Baptist Church, and stopped going to Lynchburg before its new and more visible campus was built.

Thanks for asking.

Well, I suppose we can acknowledge the sincerity of Falwell's faith.

Falwell did not see God as an impersonal or abstract. Rather, God was a real person to Falwell. A real person who shared Falwell's own hatred and prejudices. A sort of legbreaker, who inflicted AIDS as a punishment for the existence of gays, and who sent 9/11 as a lesson about tolerating feminists.

Falwell's faith gave him the strength to condemn those who did not meet his standards. It gave him the righteousness to hate his enemies. It gave him the conviction to fight for theocracy. And it allowed him to forgive his and his friends excesses and failings.

Falwell was originally a racist, publicly disparaging and mocking Martin Luther King, supporting segregation and giving platforms to people like Lester Maddox.

But he reformed, abandoning his public racist stances as these views became unacceptable. I would like to think that his conversion was sincere, that he realized his own errors and repented. It is true that his views became unacceptable to the society around him, so that may have meant that he simply adopted protective colouration, or perhaps he underwent genuine transformation. Of course, we'll never know what he continued to think privately.

Falwell also had the moral fortitude to condemn the excesses and hypocrisy of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker... when it was in his personal and financial interests to do so. Still, he did the right thing. I think to be fair and generous, we might admit the possibility that he would have done the right thing even if it wasn't in his financial or personal interests.

Falwell was a man with great vision. He could look at Church and State and see no need for education. He embraced a vision where there was no public education, only religious.

He was a man of unshakeable principles and convictions. Against Falwell's vision of the higher struggle between good and evil, a little thing like factual truth was irrelevant. Thus, his participation and promotion of a Clinton documentary containing numerous falsehoods, including some directly from his own lips.

He was a man of gifts, capable of swaying millions to his visions. Capable of harvesting tens of millions of dollars from his followers. Unfortunately, vast as his ability to scour money from his followers was, his ability to spend it was even vaster, leading him to financial crisis.

Falwell made much of his devotion to Christ, but his true patron was exposed in his name: Fall Well. To his master, he offered genius, unswerving dedication, and energy.

Jerry Fallwel was a man who knew the difference between good and evil, who chose his side, and who never looked back. I suppose we have to admire that.

"Let that practice belong to only the Limbaughs, Delays and others of their ilk."

In what sense is Falwlell NOT "of that ilk" !?

And are you better than Falwell?

And how often did you confront Falwell about the harm he did to his victims?  Piety and hypocrisy share much.

"Confront"

Definitions of confront on the Web:

As found in a simple web definition search...

In other words, you are telling us we shouldn't say this or that about this evil man 'cause he's dead.  So, did you ever tell him directly that he shouldn't do this or that while he was still alive?

If not, you are hollow.