Legacy of Hate, Ignorance, Bigotry and Hipocrasy: R.I.P.

REVEREND JERRY FALWELL HAS PASSED ON

His legacy now complete, is family and followers are in mourning. I sure hope he ended up in heaven rather than in hell. But, it's questionable.

From AmericaBlog, the following:

CNN reports that anti-gay bigot Jerry Falwell was found unconscious in his office this morning. His condition is reportedly "gravely ill."

Falwell is a nasty man. He is one of the worst anti-gay bigots of the religious right. I don't like speaking ill of someone who may be dying, but there is no way to discuss this incredibly offensive religious extremist without discussing the hate that made up so much of his life. Let's look back at Falwell's rather hate-filled, bigoted life:

Supporter of Apartheid

In the 1980s Jerry Falwell was an outspoken supporter of the Apartheid regime in South Africa. When president PW Botha was elected President by the White South African minority, Reverend Falwell went to South Africa and made statements supporting the government there and urging American Christians to buy Krugerrands, a coin issued by the South African Government[17]. He drew the ire of many when he called Nobel Peace Prize winner and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu a phony. He later apologized for that remark and claimed that he had misspoken

The anti-Christ will be a Jew

Falwell has asserted that when The Antichrist ("The Beast") comes, he "must be, of necessity, a Jewish male."

Gays, prolifers and feminists caused September 11

After the September 11, 2001, attacks Falwell said on the 700 Club, "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" (a sentiment with which Robertson concurred).

AIDS is the wrath of God

"AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals."

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the National Organization of Witches.

God doesn't listen to Jews

After Southern Baptist Convention President Bailey Smith tells a Dallas Religious Right gathering that "God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew," Falwell gives a similar view. "I do not believe," he told reporters, "that God answers the prayer of any unredeemed Gentile or Jew."

And here are a few more from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State:

February 1993: The Internal Revenue Service determines that funds from Falwell's Old Time Gospel Hour program were illegally funneled to a political action committee. The IRS forced Falwell to pay $50,000 and retroactively revoked the Old Time Gospel Hour's tax-exempt status for 1986-87.

March 1993: Despite his promise to Jewish groups to stop referring to America as a "Christian nation," Falwell gives a sermon saying, "We must never allow our children to forget that this is a Christian nation. We must take back what is rightfully ours."

1994-1995: Falwell is criticized for using his "Old Time Gospel Hour" to hawk a scurrilous video called "The Clinton Chronicles" that makes a number of unsubstantiated charges against President Bill Clinton--among them that he is a drug addict and that he arranged the murders of political enemies in Arkansas. Despite claims he had no ties to the project, evidence surfaced that Falwell helped bankroll the venture with $200,000 paid to a group called Citizens for Honest Government (CHG). CHG's Pat Matrisciana later admitted that Falwell and he staged an infomercial interview promoting the video in which a silhouetted reporter said his life was in danger for investigating Clinton. (Matrisciana himself posed as the reporter.) "That was Jerry's idea to do that," Matrisciana recalled. "He thought that would be dramatic."

November 1997: Falwell accepts $3.5 million from a front group representing controversial Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon to ease Liberty University's financial woes. The donation, and several Falwell appearances at Moon conferences, raised eyebrows because Moon claims to be the messiah sent to complete the failed mission of Jesus Christ, a doctrine sharply at odds with Falwell's fundamentalist Christian theology. (In 1978, before the Moon money started flowing, Falwell told Esquire magazine, "Reverend Sun Myung Moon is like the plague: he exploits boys and girls, and he should be exported.")

Gays are "moral perverts."

"God hates homosexuality" (I saw this video of Falwell myself.)

And who can forget our favorite Falwellism: Tinky Winky is gay.

(Note: Tinky Winky is the purple TeleTubby who carried a purse)
(Note: I may remove this post, depending on if I feel bad about it later)

Update: More Falwell Quotes follow...

* "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals";

* "It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.";

* "If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.";

* After the September 11 attacks Falwell said, "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.";

* "Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions";

* "[Homosexuals are] brute beasts...part of a vile and satanic system [that] will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven."