A Man of God

I read that the Reverend Jerry Falwell died yesterday. My condolences go to his family.

That being said, my opinion of him is not good. I considered him to be an opportunist and a man of not so high morality.

His forte was the massive spreading of fear, which is not unlike the majority of his kind. They use any type of media available to get "the" message to the most people. Nothing wrong with that, per se. Their sin is one of sowing fear and doubt to confuse the minds of those whom are most vulnerable. The Reverend Falwell was a Master of mass persuasion.

He started on his path as super-evangelical by catering to the fear mongers of the nineteen-sixties. He proclaimed to side with segregationists, gay bashers, anti-unionists, anti-semantics, and anti-anything that could endear him to God-fearing southerners and the money that they were willing to pay him to propound their views.

And it worked so very well. Like the Reverend Billy Graham, he became affluent with the gold of his believers, and monetary wealth has a religious-like influence all its own. It can and does buy the ears and votes of politicians, capitalists, and other anti-intellectuals. His political muscle, which was made massive by daily injections of the fear and intolerance steroids, was flexed mightily when he facilitated the election of three US presidents.

He chided the Bakkers for living abundantly. That is hypocritical in that he also lived that life of plenty. The difference? Falwell didn't flaunt it as did Jim and Tammy Faye. Falwell was just too righteous to be a man of great wealth, or so it seemed.

Falwell is one of the most important reasons that I turned against organized religion. Apparently, most Americans seem to need a religion in their lives and I have no problem with that. I believe that education and diligence can overcome anything, even the very worst influences such as the Reverend Falwell and his kind. All it takes is time, and time is all we had when we were born.