On Falwell...

[BreweryYardRat]

Falwell didn't believe in Purgatory. Purgatory believed in him. And he's going to be spending a long time there to think about how many lives he ruined in his false interpretation of Christianity.

I will not, however, post the other comment I'd like to make.

[Delphinus]

1. When I read he'd died,

I simply said a brief prayer that his God is better to him than he (Falwell) had been to others.

[BOSSHOG]

2. Very nice and appropriate prayer

[ScreamingWhisper]

3. As all of mankind is ultimately flawed

this is a prayer that applies to everyone.
I don't understand why anyone takes joy in the death of another, and have found the threads
demonstrating this to be quite disturbing. No one says one must revise history or shower the dead with pleasantries, but out of respect to those he has left behind: family and followers, decency would prescribe the adage of "say something nice or say nothing at all."
I myself will not take joy in his death out of respect to those he leaves behind.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. You know why some people are happy?

Because Jerry Falwell and his follows have spent the last 20+ years positively demonizing them and their friends/families. Whether it was gays/lesbians, non-Christians, non-right wing Christians, or working women, Falwell did everything in his power to make sure they were kept from their proper places here in our country. In a fiercely secular nation, he tried to make his warped vision of Christianity the law of the land. He was the worst of the false prophets the bible warned us against.

And if his family and friends believed as he did, then they do not deserve respect -- they are as evil as he was.

Harsh? Yes, but it's the truth and the truth is often ugly.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. I like to believe that once we pass from this existence...

we recognize both how we've hurt people with our ignorance and helped people in ways we never imagined mattered.

I've had many choice nicknames for Mr Falwell...none of them kind. Oddly enough, I'm disappointed in myself for not feeling more compassionate toward him. Ignorance is a disease that can't be cured with angry words and deeds. I pray that Falwell's ignorance is now revealed to him. And I pray that his followers' ignorance is revealed to them before they die.

[TahitiNut]

5. I will grieve he has no more opportunity to redeem himself.

Thus, my opinion of his behavior and the harm he did will not change. :shrug: