First, let me say that, love him or hate him, he is perhaps the single dominant figure on the religious right for the past generation. His energy and dedication to transforming American politics was largely successful, although it is starting to crumble as a new generation, not satisfied with easy (wrong) answers and a mindless dedication to single, relatively meaningless issues (abortion and gay rights), realizes the possibilities for political action that are closer to the American mainstream.
Second, I offer condolences to his family and loved ones. He lived just about the Biblical "three score and ten", and it was a life full of power, privilege, and a certain level of triumph, so they should only mourn their own loss, not anything missing from his own life. They can celebrate a life of accomplishment.
Third, his was a life dedicated to an un-American, largely un-Christian ideal, fed by fear, ignorance, and a lust for power one can almost see dripping off his face in his countless televised sermons. I can offer condolences, I can understand that he was important in a historical sense, and still declare that his importance was largely as a negative force in our public life. Whether it was blaming gays and feminists for the September 11 attacks (how does he differ from that whacko from Kansas who goes around protesting at fallen vets' funerals?) or calling Archbishop Desmond Tutu a "phony" (Gary Trudeau did a great series of strips in the 80's, ripping on the whole "Live Aid" thing, with Falwell leading a chorus of right-wingers in "Apart Aid" in support of the racist regime in South Africa), it seemed his heart was not even in the right place, let alone his mouth. He rarely voiced compassion, unless it was for not-yet-living human beings encased in a womb, nor did he view our public life in all its diversity and strangeness as something to celebrate.
I cannot pass final judgment upon him, but his influence and record are almost wholly negative, even pernicious, and we will be decades repairing the damage to both church and state the he and his cohorts have wrought (just today, Pres. Bush met with James Dobson in the White House; they are still around, still influencing policy, and more dangerous in decline than they ever were in ascendancy). He rarely voiced compassion, respect, or love for others (although he did have some kind of strange bond with Larry Flynt of all people).
Sometime in the '90's, after dissing the Metropolitan Community Church, he appeared on CNN with a pastor from that denomination. Falwell started quoting Leviticus and the first chapter of Romans, and the MCC pastor was asked to respond. The answer was as beautiful, compassionate, and full of the true gospel as Falwell's was lacking in all of these qualities. "Here's the difference between us, Jerry. You believe when we die, I will go to hell and you will go to heaven. I believe that when we die, should I go first, I will be waiting in heaven to greet you." Such a classy response should go down in history as the best way to respond to these people.
Falwell is dead. That won't change. We can change the world that he and others like him made, however, and change it for the better.
