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who needs his own wake-up call
By CHUCK McFADDEN
of TheColumnists.com
THE PUNDITS tell us--accurately--that our world has been turned upside down by the events of September 11 and things are now going to be different for all of us.
No one is sure about all the ways things are going to change, but change there will be.
Except some things won’t change. There are still some things we can depend upon. The sun will continue to come up in the east every morning. There will be rain. There will be sunshine. And Jerry Falwell will say something that unites all of us in wonderment.
It’s reassuring, in a way.
Right on cue, here’s what Mr. Falwell had to say of the terror and destruction visited upon the United States: “The ACLU’s got to take a lot of blame for this.”
Right. The American Civil Liberties Union. They’re the ones. Whee! Here we go, once more into Falwell-land.
Mr. Falwell’s reasoning is as follows: The ACLU and like-minded organizations have worked to eliminate prayer from schools, and have made the United States more “secular.” God has been made angry by this, and has “lifted the curtain of protection” thereby permitting the destruction of the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, with the attendant enormous loss of lives.
“I really believe 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,’” Falwell said on “The 700 Club,” the religious program of Pat Robertson, another fundamentalist religious figure.
To his credit, Mr. Falwell has since apologized for his utterances. First, he said his remarks were taken out of context. When the media promptly ran transcripts of his remarks, he apologized.
It’s probably unfair to hold up Mr. Falwell’s utterances to public scrutiny. It’s a little like making fun of a baby drooling. But he is so enormously good at coming up with a fresh whopper every time he opens his mouth that it’s irresistible. A while back, he was all over the "Teletubby" TV cartoon character Tinky Winky as gay. Who could top that? Only Mr. Falwell.
He has, of course, done the nation an enormous favor by reminding us that foolish statements are not confined to the practitioners of any single religion. At a time when too many people are ready to condemn Islam out of hand, Mr. Falwell is living testimony to the fact that loopy theology knows no national boundaries. That’s a useful thing for all of us to remember. The next time you see a picture of cheering Palestinians and feel your gorge rising, think of Jerry Falwell, American Christian.
© 2001 by Charles
M. McFadden. The illustration is © 2001 by Jim Hummel.
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