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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
Just seems appropriate today, for some reason
Category: Entertainment • Humor • Religion
Posted on: May 15, 2007 6:17 PM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Oh, fishy, fishy, fishy, fish! | May 15, 2007 7:09 PM
Wow, I don't know what to say. I really won't miss him, but is it appropriate to make fun of it? In any case, we should just wait 3 days, just to make sure.
Preachers of hate, yeah, I have no problem making fun of.
Posted by: Warren | May 15, 2007 7:26 PM
Yes. Yes, it is. Falwell spent 3 decades spreading messages of hate, xenophobia and intolerance, providing aid and comfort to millions of misogynists and bigots. He was a worthless sack of shit when he was alive, and there's nothing good to say about him now that he is at last, at last dead.
It is entirely appropriate to mock the end of a streak of filth such as he was.
Posted by: Oh, fishy, fishy, fishy, fish! | May 15, 2007 7:26 PM
Dang! I didn't see the other post, and for a while I was wondering what this is about until I saw the news somewhere else.
And dang dang! Somebody else made the same, um, joke, in the other thread. I really had no idea. I guess we atheists do think alike...
Posted by: Bronze Dog | May 15, 2007 7:28 PM
If it weren't for the cumulative effect of all those sappy 'there's good in everyone' after-school special messages, I'd be breaking out the party favors.
Posted by: ekzept | May 15, 2007 7:39 PM
the only things i see unfortunate about this is what part of the Republican party will show up at Falwell's funeral and do the sanctimonious Christian thing.
hey, Falwell believed in an afterlife. why would anyone mind him being the afterlife's problem rather than ours?
good pick, PZ.
i think more and more atheists and liberals are way too oversocialized. i think this is just right.
Posted by: shyster | May 15, 2007 7:53 PM
There is one thing I will miss about Jerry: watching every GOP politician bend to kiss his ring and then, when addressing more moderate audiences, trying to distance themselves (very carefully) from any number of his positions. I know I heard the secret sigh of relief from a dozen or so GOP contenders. Who will be the new spokesman for intolerance and hate? Stay tuned, we will find out.
Posted by: jpf | May 15, 2007 8:49 PM
Don't worry, there's always Rev. Moon, Emperor of America and the New Mesiah.
Posted by: Rheinhard | May 15, 2007 9:20 PM
Having lost loved ones I hope his family will be able to move forward and find solace.
However, as to the man himself: He dedicated his public life to making the lives of those he felt were not moral enough to share the country with him as miserable and painful as possible. This man was in no sense a Christian. Jesus never said a word about homosexuality or prayer in schools (he talked about prayer, yes, but emphasized it was something to be done in private, not as a public show of how much more moral a person you were than your neighbors, as Falwell would have). Compare the relative frequency with which Falwell and his ilk cite the Gospels in their sermons versus how often they cite Leviticus or Deuteronomy. We have not a Christian; we have lost a Pharisee.
Posted by: HMS Beagle | May 15, 2007 10:09 PM
We have not [lost] a Christian; we have lost a Pharisee.
You're kidding, right? Falwell was the very epitome of Christian. Corpulent, Smug, Superior, Holier-than-thou-shit-don't-stink and I'll-pray-for-you Christian. What would be the point of being a devout Christian if everybody gets to go to heaven? That's the best part of Christianity, you and your closest buddies get to hang out in paradise while everybody else burns forever. Yeah, I'd say Falwell was the perfect Christian - and good riddance to him.
Posted by: John C. Randolph | May 15, 2007 10:13 PM
" This man was in no sense a Christian. "
Actually, that strikes me as a bit of a cop-out. You can say accurately that he wasn't a *good* christian, but technically a christian is anyone who believes in the divinity of jesus.
-jcr
Posted by: PZ Myers | May 15, 2007 10:26 PM
Yep, Falwell was a most Christian gentleman. It's not as if he were practicing witchcraft when no one was looking, or was even, horror of horrors, an infidel. You don't get to pluck out the bad'uns and say, "no, that one isn't a True Christian". You get to keep them.
I wonder...when Stalin and Pol Pot died, were atheists going around saying, "nah, he wasn't really an atheist. Must have been an Episcopalian."?
Posted by: Tessa | May 15, 2007 11:21 PM
What an appropriate song for this special day!
Posted by: JJR | May 15, 2007 11:49 PM
Apparently Christopher Hitchens really ripped into ol' Jerry on Anderson Cooper 360 this evening--sorry I missed it! I hope somebody YouTube'd it.
Posted by: alan | May 16, 2007 12:01 AM
Two things I couldn't stop thinking when I heard the bad news:
Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
There were lots of thumbs up and much glee in my office. I'll not pretend to care.
And second--I kept thinking there's some truth in that thar bible...at least the dust to dust part. Sagan said that we're star dust, and I'm sure the founder of the immoral minority is becoming dust as we speak.
Alan
Posted by: Hugo | May 16, 2007 4:37 AM
JJR here you go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkAPaEMwyKU
Excellent rant by Hitchens what a tirade, I love it!
The interviewer can't get 1 full sentence.
Posted by: Paul A | May 16, 2007 4:57 AM
If it weren't for the cumulative effect of all those sappy 'there's good in everyone' after-school special messages, I'd be breaking out the party favors.
Never understood that whole sentiment, "Y'know deep down inside Pol Pot was just a cuddly ickle teddy bear, if only we could have got to know the real him."
Some people, like Mr Falwell, are just bad people and that's that. Maybe at some point they had the potential to become good people but they squandered that and can't rewrite hostory. Darth Vader-style deathbed conversions to the light side are rare indeed and even in such cases can't result in sudden forgiveness of all past deeds.
Posted by: MartinC | May 16, 2007 6:45 AM
Very enjoyable tirade by Hitchens there, for once he seemed sober and managed to get all his points in.
Posted by: Chris | May 16, 2007 1:54 PM
#8-10: If by "not really a Christian" you mean "Jesus would have thrown him out of the temple with a prominent sandal-print on his buttocks", then quite possibly; but you could say that about many, perhaps even most Christians from Paul to the present day, so I don't think it's unfair for people to describe "Christians" by the behavior of the majority of self-described Christians, even when it differs sharply from the (alleged) behavior and teachings of Jesus. Religions are prone to arguments about which Scotsmen are truer than others, but there's no reason for *everyone* to fall into that game.
Posted by: Lucy | May 16, 2007 4:08 PM
That's a great clip - just sent it to all my friends - very funny.
Oh, and Alan - I too was thinking "Ding Dong, the witch is dead!" I considered making up t-shirts, but decided against it.....