A fantastic fool exits this world

I was just visiting a theology forum on which I participate, and a discussion was in progress about the death of Jerry Falwell. It will come as no shock to my readers that Falwell was not anyone whose career or 'doctrine' I would find enlightening, though what I have seen of his 'teachings' is a plethora of intolerance, rash judgment, superiority, and, frankly, nonsense. What I find incredible is that he apparently touched something in the hearts of others who, rather than being appalled, saw Falwell as some sort of moral leader.

Why, you may ask, would I even dignify this man with an entry on this blog? It is merely because, with his being in the news this week, I am recalling a statement he made, in late 2001, which would have filled me with ire... if it came from one with more intelligence and logic. Falwell's reasoning was, at best, on a par with Neanderthal man, or perhaps Lucy. But he suited his bizarre logic to the 'spirit of the moment,' in the wake of Osama Bin Laden's attacks on New York and Washington DC.

As a prelude, I shall mention that much of what greeted the '9-11' attacks, insofar as religious comments are concerned, was not particularly logical in the first place. I must make it clear that I am in no way minimising the horror and devastation of the attacks, nor that they were a horrible tragedy. I was in New York on 11 September 2001, and shall never forget the sight. But, in the aftermath, I recall a New York television programme which consisted of interviews with prominent, intelligent clergy and other religious figures. I was puzzled by how some of them spoke of their faith being shaken, as if they could not comprehend how God could allow this to happen.

Allow this to happen? Sadly, mankind has a distressing record for cruelty, destruction, horrid acts of war, etc., etc., since the exit from Eden. I would imagine, for example, that the clergy who were interviewed have heard of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just to mention two examples of thousands which come to mind if one has the slightest sense of history.

It would be unjust to compare these distinguished religious figures with the likes of Jerry Falwell, but that Falwell's nonsense could have any appeal at all, to anyone, undoubtedly came from others' wondering 'how could God let this happen?' I suppose that, when devastation is at one's own doorstep, the pressing immediacy of it all makes some wonder.

It is at that point that even the vaguest sense of Falwell's argument parts company with any logic of which I am aware. His premise seemed to be (1) North America had previously had a divine 'veil of protection,' which prevented previous attacks on its soil. (To my knowledge, both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans remain intact - that these protected the continent from, for example, bombing in the previous wars is most fortunate but hardly indication of a superior society of some kind.) (2) God had lifted this 'veil of protection' because of homosexuality and abortion.

Thinking one's own land superior (in God's sight) certainly has precedent in history - but it is all the more bizarre in Falwell's case, because, pompous and smug though such an idea is in any case, in the past it had a flavour of 'church and state acting as one,' where Falwell is in a land where sectarian protestant denominations number in the thousands, yet the 'separation of church and state' seems to be regarded as a fifth gospel, and undoubtedly one superior to the other four. There is, as well, certainly a history of homosexual acts and abortion as being considered particularly heinous sins (...the atomic bomb is a far newer invention) - though even the strongest adherents of "God rewards the good and punishes the wicked" would have seen this as applying only to those who committed or were directly involved in a particular sin, not everyone who happens to hold the same passport. Even if, for the sake of argument, since Falwell clearly thought this to be the case, one thought that homosexual acts and abortion were abominations, homosexuality and abortion are as old as the human race. Granted that abortion's being legal is a recent development, I would be hard put to think of where, throughout the western world at least, it is not legal today - or, God help us, even mandatory in some cases.

Falwell's thinking he'd named the worst of sins did not seem aimed at reaching out to others in Christian love, or of concern for their repentance. (Note that I am still 'ravelling the thread' of his thinking this was the most critical matter, and the sins such as to cry out to heaven for vengeance, so much so that God would see to it that Osama whacked two major US cities to punish those who 'allow' what has been part of humanity's practise since Paradise.) It was a calling to those who equally find themselves to be superior, to crush and hate those who do not share his 'morality.'

I do not believe in abortion, but Falwell's noble nation, where health care costs, a lack of benefits for those who are not wealthy, and so forth could indeed drive women to have abortions who would not do so were they less than desperate. I can understand, since genuine research into human sexuality is extremely recent, that, in times when it was believed that everyone was 'straight,' and that homosexual activity was an aberration forced on the young by devious elders, it could be seen as heinous. Today, when it is understood that homosexual orientation (a concept which is only a century old - and a situation thought to indicate mental illness until only 40 years ago) is a part of someone's psycho-sexual development, why would someone's seeking love and integration in such circumstances be considered wicked?

More and more, I can see where Francis of Assisi had the right idea. Even if one does see sinfulness (though Francis was far more concerned with his own weakness than that of others - would the day come that this were common!), one does better to preach the contrary virtue than to condemn those whom one finds to be lacking in the same. To begin such a war as Falwell would (...don't get me started on the war begun by his friend Dubya) is a ticket to superiority, pride, and hatred, where one can be blinded to one's own sins because at least they aren't those sins.

But the Falwell argument did not leave me aching to hear only Christian preaching... I also was wondering, in the face of such 'logic,' "Plato and Aristotle, where are you?"