# Once again, Jerry Falwell proves to be an embarrassing jerk... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 4, 2002, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316 "2002-06-04T05:01:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/21 "2002-06-04T21:59:48Z")
Oh, and Evangelical isn’t really any better for me. [insert big, hairy wink smilie right here.] ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/22 "2002-06-05T01:46:18Z")
Um, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought they only bleeped out “Jesus” if it was being used as a swear? Like, saying, “Thank you, Jesus, for this blessing” would be okay, But it wouldn’t be okay on teevee to say, “Jesus Christ, that sucks!!!” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/23 "2002-06-05T02:38:34Z")
I don’t understand why they bleeped out Jesus on The View, especially since they don’t edit out words like “hell”, “bitch”, and “damn”. I don’t think it’s a part of a conspiracy against Christians, but I don’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/24 "2002-06-05T03:03:01Z")
Er. I think I understand why he said six thousand. Bishop Usher said the earth was created in 4004 BC. He’s saying, ever since the Earth was created, Jerusalem has been recognized, yadda yadda. He’s still odd, but there’s a reason for the number. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/25 "2002-06-05T03:16:53Z")
Eh, I don’t think it’s worth a GD thread, Poly, not to mention the EXTREME likelihood of getting jumped on by the resident GD Atheist Population. “You are stupid for believing this!” etc. Been there, done that. [sigh] :rolleyes: Minty, I do sit there in church and frequently think evil non-Fundie thoughts, especially when the Preacher, in his sermon illustrations, retails e-mail glurge as fact. My SDMB-honed Urban Legend-sniffing instincts kick in, and I come home and look it up on Google and fulminate. “That Almolonga Miracle City thing is 80% horseshit…” But ultimately, he’s a nice man and means well–and I’m kinda locked in, ya know. Mother Of Three, Sunday School Teacher, Sings In Choir, etc. It’s not like I can stand up iin the middle of church and say, “Hey, everybody, Jerry Falwell and Donald Wildmon are both raving loonies!” because I have actual friends, really nice people who I would trust with my life, who faithfully fill out the ridiculous Internet petitions, and boycott Disney when told to, and all that stuff. So I keep my thoughts to myself. Anyway. This GQ thread pretty much said it all, I thought. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99890](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99890) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/26 "2002-06-05T03:18:32Z")
Hmmm. A **poly** / **DDG** thread in GD. I might actually _pay_ to view that. Pay-per-view. I think we have an idea here. Money maker for the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/27 "2002-06-05T03:29:13Z")
**Duckie** , though I certainly understand where you’re coming from, I just have to say that sounds really ☹ to me. But I’m ever so glad you’re able to channel all that repressed intelligence and skepticism into GQ. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Creant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Miss\_Creant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Creant)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/28 "2002-06-05T04:04:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > \*\*Let’s do a little timeline: > 6) 1948 - ? (what, about 10-15 years ago?) Israel’s capital was Tel Aviv. > > 1. ? - present: Israel’s capital is Jerusalem. > > So Falwell’s off by about 4800 years. Only 80% wrong - that’s pretty good for Jerry. :rolleyes: \*\* Apparently he didn’t get the memo ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/29 "2002-06-05T13:28:49Z")
Duck Duck: what kind of church do you go to? My former Foursquare church related the tales of gold dust flaling from above on people. vanilla, a fundie ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/30 "2002-06-05T13:30:10Z")
that would be _falling_ ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/31 "2002-06-05T17:01:57Z")
Based on my own experience in broadcasting and my gut instincts, my educated guess would be that someone was a little jumpy on the trigger when Joy Behar said “Jesus.” Some stations and networks have a habit of excising “Jesus” and “God” when they could be viewed as “taking the Lord’s name in vain” or an otherwise derogatory fashion. Which is why you’ll often see movies in which the first half of the word “Goddamnit” is bleeped, but not the second half. Perhaps it was just a misunderstanding of how Behar was using it. Her full statement was: > [@](#): > > Yes, and thank you, thank you, Jesus, is all I have to say! Goodbye to that damn scale and this whole diet. I’m sick of it! In context, it might have struck someone in master control at ABC as potentially problematic, and they jumped the gun. Or, maybe it was just an utterly monumental fuckup. It’s hardly indicative of some systematic bias against the word “Jesus” by the media, that’s for sure. What’s more, the following exchange took place the next day: > [@](#): > > Behar complained: “You know, the other day, as a point of order here, the other day when we were on last week, I used the phrase ‘thank you Jesus’ because my diet was over and we got, I was, it was bumped out of the, what do you call it?” > Star Jones: “They beeped it.” [yes, she said “beeped” not “bleeped”] > Behar elaborated: “For the West coast, they took it out. They would not allow me to say ‘thank you Jesus.’ I think that’s wrong. I mean, and [The View Executive Producer] Bill Geddie got about, you know, hundreds of letters saying – about a hundred actually, right?” > Geddie, sitting in the front row of the audience: "About a hundred.” > Behar: “A hundred, which represents thousands of people.” > Geddie: “Well, they bleeped the word ‘Jesus.’” > Behar: “Because they bleeped the word ‘Jesus.’” > Geddie: “So it’s ‘thank you bleep.’” > Lisa Ling: “Well, is that using the name of–” > Jones: “I’ve said ‘Jesus’ so many times.” > Behar joked: “Yeah, that’s right. How come the black girl can say it and the white girl can’t? I protest!” > Jones suggested an odd explanation: “Actually, I think it actually has more to do with the fact that I’ve expressed my faith on television.” > Behar: “Well, geez, so what? I’m a Catholic!” > Jones: “Not to suggest that you are not Christian, but I think it was to suggest that since I have professed my faith on television–” > Behar: “No, no, no, no.” > Vieira: “But you don’t have to profess your faith!” > Jones: “In theory, I don’t know. I think it was stupid to beep that. They let us say all kinds of things on TV, but they beep Jesus? That makes no sense!” > Behar: “I don’t understand that, and just for the record I was baptized, I had holy communion and I’ve been confirmed, I got married in the Catholic church.” > Vieira: “If anybody can say ‘Jesus,’ you can.” > Behar: “Jesus and I are pals, okay? Get with the program!” As a final observation, while Meredith Viera is officially Hot As All Get Out[sup]TM[/sup], Behar and Jones both strike me as dumber than a box full of rocks that’s inside a bag full of hammers. And Jones has said on the air that: > [@](#): > > "But everyone was mad when I said on the television that I wouldn’t vote for an Atheist, but it’s interesting that the Oath of office of the President is with ‘so help me God.’ So who would the Atheists be talking to if they weren’t given the Oath? I mean you gotta have someone. I think it is absolutely important for you to be led by a higher power so you feel as if you have some responsibility – not just to man. I would never even consider it. Anybody got a problem with it, is your problem. I didn’t say you [an atheist] weren’t a good person, just you wouldn’t get my vote. I mean you could be a nice person – you could baby-sit my kids – possibly – but that doesn’t mean you would get my vote because you got your finger on the button. I want you to feel like there are long term, everlasting ramifications. " So methinks she doth protest too much. Oh, and Star, honey, the Presidential Oath of Office reads, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States.” The “so help me God” is optional and voluntary, you birdbrain. You may want to look at these nifty items, the First Amendment to the Constitution, and more relevantly Article VI, Section 3 of the Constitution to understand why. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316/32 "2002-06-05T19:23:43Z")
> [@](#): > > So who would the Atheists be talking to if they weren’t given the Oath? Or while being given a blowjob? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-again-jerry-falwell-proves-to-be-an-embarrassing-jerk/112316.md?page=1)