484 Clothman And Readers Disagree Over Falwell
I received a surprising amount of responses to my column about Jerry Falwell. Falwell was the outspoken fundamentalist pastor who, among other things, founded the Religious Right, a church of over 20,000 and Liberty University. He passed away May 15, 2007 at the age of 73.
Most Clothreaders strongly disagreed with me, especially when I concluded by saying: “Thus, the good Falwell accomplished on this 3rd rock from the sun will greatly outshine the bad…”
Steve said, “Are you sure about that? Exclusion, polarization and judgmentalism are evil. Few things can be put forth as having done greater harm to the cause of Christ. Yes, Falwell was a good pastor to people who conformed to his system, but he very uncharitably attacked his detractors. I have no doubt his motives were as sincere as mine were when I was a politicized, fundamentalist, institutional clergy. I now believe I was misguided and out of step with the Spirit of Christ in that way of life.”
Jim said, “Clothman, I respectively suggest you do the math! Even though Mr. Falwell may have touched thousands with his kindness, the millions that he personally attacked with his hurtful and unchristian language shows that, on the balance, he did more harm than good. This is the only column that you have written over the years that I completely disagree with.”
I did say that I disagreed with Falwell more times than I count. Still, so many well stated responses made me wonder if I was too generous to Falwell. After all, it was Falwell who declared war on “Tinky Winky” from the “Teletubbies.”
Furthermore, I know Falwell would have declared all out war on Clothman over my view that there is no literal, eternal hell. He would have led the charge to have me removed from membership in the Evangelical group – except he wouldn't have even been a member of that group. He would have instead renounced it just as he did the National Association of Evangelicals.
Despite all that, and notwithstanding the wise opinions of so many Clothreaders, I’ve decided to not retract my comments about Falwell. If he were alive in my presence today, I would still stand by him even though he probably wouldn’t stand by me.
One time the disciples proudly announced to Jesus “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” Jesus shocked them by saying, “Do not stop him for whoever is not against you is for you” (Luke 9:49-50).
I am for, not against, Falwell just as I am for, not against, those who did remove me from Evangelical membership and can no longer stand beside me because of my position on hell. To do otherwise would make me guilty of the same exclusionary judgmentalism that Falwell was accused of. I don’t want to live there.
Thankfully, not all Clothreaders disagreed with me. Ivan said, “I thought your words about Jerry Falwell were right to the point: candid, but Christ-like. Falwell’s accomplishments are there for all to admire. His faults are there, too; but, not for us to judge. If you're willing to wear a tie in honor of him; I'm willing to take my hat off for him.”
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