Cross Country: Attacking and Defending Falwell
More opinions pieces from other papers across the nation:
Falwell: The New York Post credits Falwell for restoring "the notion that moral issues have a place in political discourse," and that while not "everyone agreed with his message," few "could question the genuine passion and deep belief that drove it forward" ... the San Francisco Chronicle writes that Falwell was able to "rise as a political force in the 1980s" because of his "adeptness at identifying and exploiting cultural and religious divisions" ... the Dallas Morning News writes that not "since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has a religious leader left as powerful a mark on America's political culture as the Rev. Jerry Falwel" ... the New York Sun writes that if "Falwell in his stridency sometimes seemed hostile to American pluralism, it is a tribute to America's pluralism that it could accommodate his leadership and influence without breaking or abandoning its Constitution and the protection it provides to smaller factions who don't share his views or who don't even believe in God" ... the Seattle Times notes that "Falwell invoked and wielded religion as a powerful device to be used and adapted for partisan political purposes, the same as direct-mail advertising or television."
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann write in the New York Post that Fred Thompson's and Newt Gingrich's indecision over whether or not to jump into the presidential race is hurting conservatives' chance of winning the nomination. "Conservatives like ex-Govs. Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Tommy Thompson and Jim Gilmore, Sen. Sam Brownback and Reps. Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo can't get their campaigns untracked because everyone is waiting for Newt and Fred to make up their minds," they write.
In the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby argues against a hate crimes bill that recently passed through Congress by asking why crimes against one group, like disabled people, should be considered worse than crimes against another, like the homeless. "Is it worse to douse a man with gasoline and strike a match while shouting, 'We hate cripples!' than to do the exact same thing while shouting 'We hate the homeless'"?
The New Orleans Times-Picayune slams teachers at a Tennessee elementary school who staged a fake gun attack on 69 sixth-graders during a weekend trip to a state park. "Obviously [the teachers] weren't thinking about the emotional well-being of the youngsters who huddled under tables in the dark, crying and begging for their lives," the editors write.
By Rob Anderson |
May 16, 2007; 10:38 AM ET
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Posted by: barb | May 16, 2007 12:05 PM
It isn't immorality that's destroying America. It's the mixing of religion and government. Of the people, by the people and for the people, not his version of a hateful God!. Rule of Law. These aren't biblical, revelation rules. Ronnie Raygun and Falwell started the decline of government in the US. It has hit bottom with the Bush Administration and the kool-aid drinking evangelical right wingers that have taken over the Federal Government. Have you ever seen such incompetence and corruption. Hey, If JC wants GW in the WH then who can argue! It will take years to fix the mess they got us into.
Posted by: thebob.bob | May 16, 2007 12:38 PM
I read with great intrest the editorials you have posted. I grew-up in the "Bible Belt town where Falwell got his degree. I watched in amusent as they turned out young Jerry Falwells. They were famous for teaching hypocracy & intolerance. It explains a lot about Jerry Falwell and his career. In the last thirty years, the Bible College has become remarkably successful and grown in size appreciably. They churn out more and more Jerry Falwells because that's their "Mission." I found both he and Pat Robertson detestable for the same reasons. But Robertson is still with us.
Posted by: Tom Glidewell | May 16, 2007 06:19 PM
Why the 'attack or defend' stance? How about good old American indifference to (wealthy) freaks on display.
Live and let live. Frame the social issues outside the churches. Complete freedom of faith, of course, but under an umbrella of humanistic values which history shows both the great and the lesser faiths tend to twist given a little political influence.
Let's love God, and understand we cannot fully comprehend her.
Posted by: On the plantation | May 16, 2007 06:40 PM
I grew up near the town where Jerry got his degree, and never noticed anything of the sort mentioned by Tom.
I've always found people from this part of the country to be very down to earth and more likely to mind their own business than the people I've known out west.
I hear talk like that in Tom's post, and it usually comes from an embittered person who has been ejected from a given organization because of their own fault, and they blame it on that organization and innocent people who can manage to live up to its ideals.
In other words, I'm wondering if Tom was possibly kicked out of Bible Baptist College, a Baptist congregation, or something along those lines.
PS--I'm not a Baptist.
Posted by: Chet | May 20, 2007 01:00 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
farwell,anasty whinning white male who never did anything FOR america but did a heck of alot AGAINST Christianity.