Jerry Falwell dead.

Personally, the people who have a problem are those who AREN'T happy he's dead.He was a poisonous blight on our society. I wish he had died sooner, for the sake of us all.Indeed, he's to blame, perhaps more than anyone, for putting this country on the road to ruin.I feel for the good people who miss him. I feel confused, that is. I don't know how a good person could miss him.I've said such things before, and I'm not going to change it now that he's dead.Other than to put it in the past tense.

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"that doesn't make us hypocrites any more than hating Hitler for being a genocidal anti-semite does."

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I'm pretty sure that every discussion I've seen of Falwell today has Godwined in fewer than 2 dozen posts.Edited by Zhimbo, : No reason given.Edited by Zhimbo, : changed "less" to "fewer". My English teachers would be so proud.

So, what good did Falwell do?The man defended Apartheid (both the U.S. and South African versions), spread wild-ass conspiracy theories to defame a president, impeded AIDS research, dumbed down his own religion, and founded an anti-intellectual university.Surely the man did something positive while still alive?Edited by Zhimbo, : (added phrase re: university)

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Falwell's passing is a tragedy.

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No. It makes the world a better place. That's the opposite of tragedy.Edited by Zhimbo, : No reason given.Edited by Zhimbo, : No reason given.Edited by Zhimbo, : No reason given.

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What good did he do?

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I asked that a long time ago in this thread. No one answered.I did think of one good thing to say about him (although it isn't an actual contribution to society): he wasn't, as far as I know, a hypocrite.ABE: I just watched Hitchens call Falwell a hypocrite on Jews and Israel, but I don't think I agree with his assessment.Edited by Zhimbo, : No reason given.

Falwell died in his 70's a rich, comfortable, sucessful man, suddenly and without trauma. I see no reason to label his death a tragedy from any perspective.Why shouldn't I be happy that his hate-spewing and his promotion of authoritarian theocracy are finally over?

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You don't read well, do you?

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You didn't reply to me. You're referring to something buried 2/3 of the way through an answer to someone else. The beginning of it didn't interest me, and it wasn't addressed to me, so no, I didn't notice this:

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How many folks in poor nations overseas who were helped benevolently by this man's work think they are worse off from having received food, clothes, education, et al? How many single mothers who kept their children, helped financially, spiritually, et al along by the Falwell ministries think they were worse off by this man's work? Likely none or few.

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I am unfamiliar with this, and did in fact look around for info on such charitable work. I see nothing even on Falwell Ministries about overseas aid, although I do see the Liberty Godparent Foundation aimed at unwed teen mothers. Which I suppose was at least meant well.His religious, political, and educational ministries themselves are not part of his positive contributions. He's twisted religion, moved us toward authoritarian politics, and created an anti-intellecutal university. Any good that's come from those has been accidental and in spite of Falwell, not because of him.

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ACLU who opposes about all Falwell, Dobson and others support.

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Errr....read this.

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bastard never got a chance to at least try and repent.

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73 years is plenty of time. He chose not to.

Wanna see the guy's MySpace page?Check it out here. Well, that's not a direct link, but you can get there with another link. This link is a blog entry about his MySpace page...