# Jerry Falwell near death! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 15, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198 "2007-05-15T16:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/121 "2007-05-16T02:25:55Z")
Arminiansim for lucre? Band name! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/122 "2007-05-16T02:28:11Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] WASHINGTON, May 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – The following is a statement by President Bush: ``` Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of Jerry Falwell, a man who cherished faith, family, and freedom. As the founder of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, Jerry lived a life of faith and called upon men and women of all backgrounds to believe in God and serve their communities. One of his lasting contributions was the establishment of Liberty University, where he taught young people to remain true to their convictions and rely upon God's word throughout each stage of their lives. Today, our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Macel and the rest of the Falwell family. ``` SOURCE White House Press Office [/QUOTE] Dick Cheney released a statement also: > [@](#): > > Yeah, what Bush said. Alberto Gonzales released a statement as well: > [@](#): > > There were many things I admired about Reverend Falwell. But what specifically they were, I can’t recall. Hillary Clinton released this: > [@](#): > > President Clinton and I both wish to express their sincere condolences upon learning of the death of Reverend Falwell. Both found him a man of great moral character and a man dedicated to the rebu… Shit! I thought I could get it out with a straight face that time. Okay, Take 17. President Clinton and I both… Britney Spears: > [@](#): > > Who was he? Show me a picture… ooh! Ooh! Dead fat guy! 15 points! Let’s do shots! Paris Hilton: > [@](#): > > I think Reverend Falwell, who devoted his entire life to the betterment of this country, would most like for those who cherish his memory to sign the petition to keep me out of jail. Samuel L. Jackson: > [@](#): > > Yeah I’m glad he’s dead! I hope he burns in _hell_! Johnny Carson: Still dead. Don Imus: > [@](#): > > Whatever he died of I’m fucking sorry. Can I have my show back now? Jimmy Carter: > [@](#): > > It’s been almost thirty years since I said he can go to hell. Better late than never. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/123 "2007-05-16T02:35:55Z")
To paraphrase a _grande dame_ of showbiz: "I was taught to speak only good of the dead. Jerry Falwell is dead. Good." ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/124 "2007-05-16T02:46:06Z")
[QUOTE=LavenderBlue] Lesbians, feminists and pro-choicers everywhere are holding a three day satanic ritual to celebrate. 😃 [/QUOTE] The dance floor will be his grave, of course. Still don’t know who will be catering; is it Carolina or Memphis BBQ for Virginia rituals? Ok, got that out of my system; I feel bad for his kin but really, humanity got a little bit nicer today. Enjoy the nothingness of the afterlife, Jerry. It’s not 72 virgins serving portehouse steaks and scotch, but it has its charms. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/125 "2007-05-16T02:52:52Z")
[QUOTE=Annie] After all, the impending herpetic sores are just the body’s Braille for a life well lived. [/QUOTE] On a similar positive note, this morning Jerry Falwell was ‘near death’. Now he’s getting further and further from it with each passing moment. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/126 "2007-05-16T03:03:41Z")
I’ve been listening to [this song](http://www.lyricsdir.com/voltaire-god-thinks-lyrics.html) to mark the occasion… The lyrics that Falwell makes me think of: > [@](#): > > God thinks all people like you are evil > God thinks all people like you are an embarassment to creation > self-righteous, judgemental, first to throw the stone > and use His name for your own agenda > > … > > never trust a man who puts his words in the mouth of god > and says that it’s absolute truth > its lies and it smells like death > its all in a day’s work taking money from the poor > Why do you think that God would need your dirty money > if he wanted to start a holy war? I feel kind of bad being glad he’s gone, and I hope God will forgive me that weakness, but…considering who it is? Good riddance to bad rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/127 "2007-05-16T03:06:50Z")
[GD thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=421010) on Falwell’s legacy, if anybody wants to get way serious. When a guy kicks it at the age of 73, I don’t feel all **that** bad for his family. It sucks but it’s no tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/128 "2007-05-16T03:27:06Z")
Peace be with him. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/129 "2007-05-16T03:48:22Z")
Yeah. Peace on him. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/130 "2007-05-16T05:37:42Z")
Here was a man, whose lifelong dedication to the greater glory of God Almighty, whose selfless submission to the will of the Lord, whose tireless efforts toward the apotheosis of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ on this poor, unworthy Earth, stand in sharp rebuke to all of us lesser mortals. We should be humbled by his example, and strive to emulate the angels themselves as they compose paeans of praise for his immortal soul. And so, even like unto the angels above, let us all paean him… ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/131 "2007-05-16T05:50:48Z")
Man, those Teletubbies creep me right the fuck out! And not in that wholesome, All-American, Jerry Falwell, anti-faggy way… ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/132 "2007-05-16T07:05:51Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] When a guy kicks it at the age of 73, I don’t feel all **that** bad for his family. It sucks but it’s no tragedy. [/QUOTE] It would have been a tragedy if he’d lived to 83. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/133 "2007-05-16T10:49:21Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Ok, she’s [Tammy Faye] got her gift and now it’s her turn to go. She’s on my list. [/QUOTE] > **[Tammy Faye's cancer treatments suspended](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=420268)** > > For those of you who know of her, a link to the story. For those of you who don’t, a link to her story. I gotta say, there had been a point in time when I, as a Christian, was embarrassed about this woman. Her clown makeup. Her goody-two-shoes... ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/134 "2007-05-16T10:55:50Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] > **[Tammy Faye's cancer treatments suspended](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=420268)** > > For those of you who know of her, a link to the story. For those of you who don’t, a link to her story. I gotta say, there had been a point in time when I, as a Christian, was embarrassed about this woman. Her clown makeup. Her goody-two-shoes... [/QUOTE] Thanks, but I already knew she was boarding the shuttle. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/135 "2007-05-16T11:05:03Z")
I apologize for my confusing remarks. I got my threads tangled, and thought I was posting in _The Celebrity Death Pool_. Tammy Fay is on my list for 2007, she is worth points to me, so long as the shuttle departs by December 31. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/136 "2007-05-16T12:14:55Z")
He’s in a better place. (At least from _my_ perspective.) ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/137 "2007-05-16T12:30:24Z")
The corrosive hatred expressed by so many people in this thread might be cathartic but it’s unpleasant to observe. Apart from managing to achieve some fame and notoriety, was Jerry Falwell, as a character, really all that worse than hundreds of other people of influence (including politicians of all stripes) who continue to ply a variant (religious or secular or mixed) of his trade? Like most of his kind, he murdered no one, raped no children and, in his case, was not powerful or influential enough to pass laws that harmed anyone. Let whatever good he managed to perform in his life live on and whatever harm he achieved die with him. Condolences to his family. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/138 "2007-05-16T12:30:45Z")
My flag will not be at half-staff. But as a pagan and abortionist I extend sympathies to Falwell’s family. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/139 "2007-05-16T13:06:24Z")
[QUOTE=Aquila Be] Like most of his kind, he murdered no one, raped no children and, in his case, was not powerful or influential enough to pass laws that harmed anyone. [/QUOTE] He gave harming others a [good old college try](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_falwell#Controversial_remarks), though. If you think that a “respectable” man of the cloth saying AIDS is a just God’s punishment of homosexuals didn’t contribute materially to [violence against homosexuals](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard) in this country, your faith in the forbearance, discernment, and judgment of redneck homophobes far exceeds mine. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198/140 "2007-05-16T13:12:15Z")
[QUOTE=Aquila Be] The corrosive hatred expressed by so many people in this thread might be cathartic but it’s unpleasant to observe. [/QUOTE] He reaps what he sowed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jerry-falwell-near-death/404198.md?page=8)