Recently in Jerry Falwell Category

He's been dead for less than a day, and already eBay is flooded with Jerry Falwell related memorabilia. Much of it is just stuff like signed books, but some of it is interesting. Carat Queen was impressively quick off the mark in producing this Jerry Falwell Memorial tribute magnet

The wags were quick to respond to his demise too. For example, you can buy One Pound of Lard. Own a Portion of Jerry Falwell ! (Not his ubiquitous lard, but rather lard JUST LIKE HIS!):

Up for auction is one pound of lard - exactly like the lard which composed Jerry Falwell. Place this tub of lard high on a shelf or on your mantle, should you need a tub of lard to look-up to. Place this lard on the back of a donkey or pig should you need a tub of lard to mindlessly follow.

The perfect keepsake with which to remember him.

Or how about a nice painting in his memory? Perhaps JERRY FALWELL IN HELL - acrylic painting! with Satan! fits the bill?

This is your chance to own what is probably the first contemporary art painting of religious-right extremist JERRY FALWELL to be done following his death earlier today (May 15th). This is also a very rare chance to purchase Jeffrey Scott Holland (me)'s primitive neo-expressionist artwork at such a low price on eBay, thanks to the good people at Superfrothco.

The painting isn't pictured here because I'm working on it right now, even as we speak.

It's acrylic on bristol and measures 8.5x11. It will portray Rev. Falwell arriving in Hell, surrounded by flames, and coming face to face with Satan, who's laughing hysterically, not unlike the way he often does in a Jack Chick comic.

United States: It seems that, at some point, Jerry Falwell managed to accidentally preach a message that bore some resemblance to the recorded teachings of Jesus Christ, and that has annoyed Fred Phelps.

WBC will preach at the memorial service of the corpulent false prophet Jerry Falwell, who spent his entire life prophesying lies and false doctrines like God loves everyone.

Naturally, he concludes that Falwell must be in a well known Norwegian town, and gives his reasons. Two of them are worth repeating, the first being a bit of tedious theological hair-splitting which means nothing to the sensible.

Falwell bitterly and viciously attacked WBC because of WBC's faithful Bible preaching -- thereby committing the unpardonable sin -- otherwise known as the sin against the Holy Ghost.

Hang on, I thought that sin was specifically denying the Holy Spirit (which does not exist, by the way), not having boring arguments?

Falwell warmly praised Christ-rejecting Jews, pedophile-condoning Catholics, money-grubbing compromisers, practicing fags like Mel White, and backsliders like Billy Graham and Robert Schuler, etc. All for lucre -- making him guilty of their sins.

Ah yes, pooves. We knew they'd be mentioned soon enough. Of course, because Falwell was not fond of pooves (though he did, towards the end of his life, make the outrageous suggestion that they be treated like human beings), it makes him a hard target for Phelp's obsession with hot man-on-man sex, so the rest of his announcement makes no mention of Falwell whatsoever, just pooves. The announcement is on the home page, and will no doubt change as soon as Phelps thinks about pooves again, so here's a screenshot of the entire page (PNG, 540Kb).

WBC will Preach at Jerry Falwell's Funeral!!—God Hates America, 15th May 2007 (probably).

• United States: Jerry Falwell is dead. As with Andrea Dworkin, I'll stick to my mother's advice about not saying anything if I have nothing nice to say. You may choose to do otherwise. US evangelist Jerry Falwell dies—BBC News, 15th May 2007.
• United States: Wiccan woman on the recieving end of Christian love. Diatribe possible hate crime—Times-Union, 15th May 2007.
• England: A Roman Catholic priest is on trial, accused of paying to have an 11-year-old girl groomed for sex. If he's found guilty, let's see how his church can blame this one on pooves. Priest 'paid for girl's grooming'—BBC News, 15th May 2007.

United States: Some schools have a system whereby non-profit organisations may give flyers to schoolchildren. A recent court ruling affirmed that, to avoid church and state issues, the system had to be made available to all non-profits, or none at all. The case was brought by an organisation run by preacher Jerry Falwell.

The dispute started last summer when Gabriel and Joshua Rakoski, twins who attend Hollymead Elementary School, sought permission to distribute fliers about their church's Vacation Bible School to their peers via backpack mail. Many public schools use special folders placed in student backpacks to distribute notices about schools events and sometimes extra-curricular activities to parents.

School officials originally denied the request from the twins' father, Ray Rakoski, citing a school policy barring distribution of literature that is for partisan, sectarian, religious or political purposes.

A Charlottesville weekly newspaper, The Hook, reports that Rakoski sicced the Liberty Counsel on the county, and the policy was soon revised to allow religious groups to use the backpack mail system. Liberty Counsel is a Religious Right legal group founded by Mathew Staver and now affiliated with Falwell.

So, when a Unitarian Universalist congregation used the system to advertise an event about the pagan origins of Christmas, followed by a Yule celebration, who got all upset about it? Yep, Christians.

Suddenly not everyone was pleased by the open forum. Jeff Riddle, pastor of Jefferson Park Baptist Church in Charlottesville, wrote on his personal blog, If the school allows the Baptist or Methodist church to send home a note to its students about Vacation Bible School, it also has to allow the Unitarian Church to send home a note about its 'Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule'....This kind of note adds weight to the argument that it is high time for Christians to leave public schools for reasonable alternatives (homeschooling and private Christian schools).

Another conservative Christian blogger in the county complained about finding the flier in her child's folder. Apparently unaware of Falwell's role in bringing it about, the blogger who goes by the name Cathy, noted disclaimer language at the bottom of the flier noting that the event is not connected to the school and wrote, They [the school officials] aren't endorsing or sponsoring this? Then it shouldn't have been included in the Friday folders. The Friday folders have never been used for any thing other than school work and school board and/or County sanctioned/sponsored programs.

And the stushie soon came to the notice of the fundies at World Net Daily:

Amazing — government schools ban orthodox Christianity, but allow an openly pagan organization to proselytize six-year-olds! one observer who asked for anonymity told WND...

The banner also displays three symbols: a cross, a Star of David and a pentagram — a star enclosed in a circle — often associated with paganism, witches groups such as Wicca, and even Satanism.

At least the World Nut Daily can tell the difference between a pentacle and a pentagram, unlike most Neopagans these days.

Andrew Ian Dodge also pointed me towards a forum discussion of the issue, where one or two people were a little upset about it.

I'm shocked that people think this would hold up. What about local control? Aren't local standards used to define what is obscene?

I thank God for Christian schools!

Obviously, the obscenity in question must be the gruesome method of execution depicted on the flyer.

Falwell’s Flub: Jerry-Rigged Policy Opens Door For Pagan Proselytizing In Virginia Public School—The Wall of Separation, 5th December 2006;Pagan Christmas ritual pressed on young kids—World Net Daily, 8th December 2006.

Iraq: American evangelists have managed to really annoy one particular group of Iraqis—Christians. Patriarch Emmanuel Delly is the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Iraq's largest Christian denomination, affiliated with the Vatican. Delly, who ranks as an archbishop in the Roman Catholic Church and is tipped to become a cardinal, explained his problem with the evangelists that have plagued the country since the invasion in March last year:

Delly told Al-Jazeera News on May 19 that Iraq did not need Christian missionaries because its churches dated back long before Protestantism. He objected to the aspect of trying to convert Muslims and said, You can’t even talk about that here.

According to Delly, the evangelicals attract poor youths with displays of money and then take them out in cars to have fun. Then, they take photos and send them here, to Germany, to the United States and say ‘look how many Muslims have become Christian.’

The (atheist) correspondent at uruknet.info goes on to discuss the role of well-known fundies like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in bringing these pests to Iraq.

Reuters has more detail on the story, and notes that Christians in predominantly Muslim countries tend not to make pains of themselves.

Many Muslim countries consider Christian missionaries as part of a Western campaign against Islam and punish both the preacher and the apostate Muslim severely. Violent Iraqi groups killed at least five evangelical missionaries last year.

At least 20 Iraqis were killed in bombings of Christian churches last year as unknown attackers stepped up pressure on non-Muslims there. Christian minorities in Muslim countries usually keep a low profile and do not evangelise.

JUST WHAT EVERY IRAQI NEEDS: A BIBLE - uruknet.info, 23rd May 2005; Patriarch denounces U.S. evangelicals in Iraq - Reuters, 19th May 2005 (via The Sideshow and The Green Knight).

Every so often, I add something truly worthwhile to the blogroll. Ed, the author of Dispatches from the Culture Wars describes his blog rather simply as Thoughts From the Interface of Science, Religion, Law and Culture. What we have is a site which looks at fundie activities in the US and demolishes their arguments, with references and links to the relevant data. Two recent articles will demonstrate exactly what I mean. WorldNutDaily Stupidity on Teen Pregnancy analysies a piece in WorldNetDaily, a news site with a strong Christian bias, which made some shocking claims about teen pregnancy during the Clinton era--that teen pregnancy and abortion were at an all time high during that period, and that this was linked to improved sex education and increased condom use. So, Ed went and checked the stats:

United States: The IRS has been asked to investigate televangelist Jerry Falwell after he sent out a newsletter urging his supporters to vote for George W. Bush in the forthcoming Presidential election. The newsletter also asked for donations to an organisation which supports Republican candidates. The complaint was made by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Executive Director, Rev. Barry W. Lynn, said Falwell is thumbing his nose at the IRS. He must not be permitted to use a tax-exempt ministry to engage in partisan politics.

Falwell, in his Falwell Confidential bulletin, wrote, For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush. The alternative, in my mind, is simply unthinkable. To the pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional marriage, pro-America voters in this nation, we must determine that President Bush is the man with our interests at heart. It is that simple.

Falwell continued, However, simply voting may not be enough. I believe it is the responsibility of every political conservative, every evangelical Christian, every pro-life Catholic, every traditional Jew, every Reagan Democrat, and everyone in between to get serious about re-electing President Bush. That is why I am utilizing this column to urge you to support the Campaign for Working Families, which is headed by Gary Bauer. It is the organization that I believe can have the greatest impact in re-electing Mr. Bush to the Oval Office.

Falwell told the New York Times that the message did not come from his religious organisation, but from a lobbying organisation, and that it represented his personal view. But Falwell published it on his ministry's web site, and it was sent out under the auspices of Jerry Falwell Ministries.

United States: The life of a political cartoonist is fraught with the perils of fending off attacks from thin-skinned fundies with way too much time on their hands. Doug Marlette discusses the latest influx of affronted loonies as well as battles past.

This week's New Scientist letters page features a useful note from Brian Myres which explains the difference between a hypothesis and a theory, and observes how fundies take advantage of people not having paid attention when it was explained to them in school. The letter was inspired by the fact that the writer of a recent article hadn't been listening either, and neither had the sub-editors:

He tells us that Adam Heller proposed a radical theory, when all Heller is doing is hypothesising. He has no data. Yet scientific theories must have data to support them. Lawton then goes on to say that there's reason to believe this isn't just a clever theory. Now there's grist for Jerry Falwell's mill. Falwell is the minister who travels the US telling everyone that evolution is just a theory, and Lawton has now validated that stupid statement.

Theories aren't guesses - New Scientist, 19th April 2003.

Ethical Atheist asks Is Pat Robertson a Terrorist? and Is Jerry Falwell a Terrorist? .

America and the world are outraged by the attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. We are living in fear of further attacks and now even fear our own mail might infect us with anthrax. We are trying to bring to justice Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda terrorist network. The trouble is, we can't find them. So, we direct our anger at the Taliban government of Afghanistan for harboring terrorists. However, the United States appears to be harboring its own group of dangerous religious fanatics who, upon close examination, seem to share many of the same characteristics of the terrorists we are seeking abroad. Let's look at one, shall we?

The articles take the form of tables comparing the words and actions of the evangelists and Osama bin Laden.

Various evangelists have been criticized for making outrageous statements about Islam, and now a Muslim activist has made equally outrageous statements about them. Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) compared the likes of Jerry Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart to Osama bin Laden, wanting to split the world into a holy war and willing to kill Muslims given the chance.

It's the incitement we're talking about, said Mr. Hooper, whose organization has been linked to radical Islamist groups in the Middle East. It's not Jerry Falwell throwing a hand grenade into a mosque.

Mr. Hooper said his original comment about the evangelical leaders was provoked in an interview with a conservative New York radio show last week. Under questioning by WABC radio's Steve Malzberg, Mr. Hooper said evangelical critics wanted to spark a religious war.

When Mr. Malzberg asked whether the Christian leaders would kill Muslims as bin Laden urges Muslims to kill Jews and Christians, Mr. Hooper said: Given the right circumstance, these guys would do the same in the opposite direction.

Hooper's organisation is known for demanding apoogies from those who have slighted Islam, but if he was expecting the same demands be made of him, he'll be disappointed. The offending comments by evangelists, including Jimmy Swaggart's demand that all Muslim students with visas be expelled from the US, provoked a strange statement from George W. Bush: Ours is a country based upon tolerance [and] we're not going to let the war on terror or terrorists cause us to change our values. Muslim activist won't apologize to evangelists—Washington Times, November 22nd 2002. Steve Malzberg's web site, where there is apparently a transcript of the interview, but I can't find it.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has thrown out a complaint from the Rev. Jerry Falwell. The preacher had claimed he had a common-law trademark on his name which was being breached by the parody site www.jerryfalwell.com. WIPO policy is that personal names should only be protected if they are being commercially expolited, and concluded:

The complainant has failed to show that his name, well known as it is, has been used in a trademark sense as a label of particular goods or services. There are many well-known ministers, religious figures and academics. Are their sermons or lectures to be considered commercial goods?

Falwell plans to bring a case in a US court instead. Site poking fun at Falwell allowed to continue—Associated Press, June 7th 2002.

Jerry Falwell has complained to the World Intellectual Property Organization over a site which satirises his extremist views. He claims the site, JerryFalwell.Com violates a common law trademark of his name. The non-commercial site parodies Falwell's views that September 11 was God punishing an unrighteous America and urges readers to follow all of God's Word, not just the bits affecting people you don't like:

Thank you for giving me a second chance to express my views about the recent terrorist attack. While it is true that in my heart I believe that God is punishing our nation, I now know the real reason that God is so angry. We have been claiming to be a God-fearing, and a scripture following nation, but we have only been "cherry picking" the Bible. If you think that the Bible is a morality guidebook, to pick and choose from, then you should leave now. If you believe as I do that the Bible is the word of God to be followed, then we must follow the entire Bible. God has commanded men not to shave their beards (Leviticus 21:5). That means we must never cut or trim our beards, or we will go to hell for disobeying God. I am asking that all American men stop shaving at once. We must show God that we are faithful to ALL of his commandments... You must not ask yourself what would Jesus do, you must ask what DID Jesus do! Jesus did not cut his beard, and wants us to also follow God's word in order to be a righteous nation.

In a previous attempt to stop people making fun of him, Falwell famously sued Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. He lost that case, as the Supreme Court decided that even the most extreme parodies were protected by the First Amendment - that part of the United States Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech. Rev. Jerry Falwell files complaint over Web site bearing his name - Boston Globe, April 4th 2002.