THE PARTISAN PREACHER FACES HIS MAKER—AND HIS UNMAKING.
In 1988, HUSTLER’S publisher won a historic Supreme Court case that was immortalized in the Hollywood movie The People vs. Larry Flynt. The courtroom clash pitted the Reverend Jerry Falwell against Flynt in a battle royale that came to be known as the preacher versus the pornographer. The flashpoint was a November 1983 HUSTLER parody ad (reproduced on the opposite page) that included a mock interview with Falwell highlighted by a totally off-the-wall “revelation”: While both were drunk on Campari liqueur, Falwell had lost his virginity to his mother in an outhouse.
Falwell—ironically, the son of a bootlegger—was unamused and sued Flynt for $45 million. When the dust finally settled, after years of appeals, the self-described smut peddler prevailed over the self-righteous Holy Roller. In a surprise decision the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in HUSTLER’s favor, establishing a First Amendment precedent and vastly expanding Americans’ free speech rights.
When Jerry Falwell passed away in 2007, media outlets sought out HUSTLER’s publisher,who declared: “He knew what I was selling, and I knew what he was selling.” Flynt sells sex and irreverence—but what exactly was the Reverend Falwell selling?
If religion is “the opiate of the masses,” Falwell’s theocratic toxic brew, which mixed old-time religion with GOP politics, was the crystal meth of the people. As Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) once observed, the polarizing preacher was “an agent of intolerance,” demonizing gays, feminists, non-Christians, secularists and others who didn’t share the vicious smear merchant’s twisted creed. Before Falwell enters the Pearly Gates, he has lots of explaining to do:
★ The fundamentalist Christian was a racist who called civil rights “civil wrongs.” According to Media Matters’ Max Blumenthal, “Falwell was a rabid segregationist who railed against the civil rights movement from the pulpit.” After the Supreme Court’s desegregation ruling, Falwell sermonized: “If Chief Justice Warren and his associates…desired to do the Lord’s will…the 1954 decision would never have been made. The facilities should be separate. …[Integration] will destroy our race eventually…[A] pastor friend of mine tells me that a couple of opposite race live…as man and wife.”
★ Falwell called Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa “a phony.” During a 1980s visit to that country, Falwell criticized sanctions against the apartheid regime and encouraged followers to buy Krugerrands (South African gold coins).
★ On his Old Time Gospel Hour, Falwell bashed gays as “brute beast…thank God this vile and Satanic system will one day be utterly annihilated.” Falwell also commented, “AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals.” When Ellen Degeneres came out as a lesbian in 1997, Falwell called the comedienne “Ellen Degenerate.” In 1999, Falwell accused purple Teletubby Tinky-Winky of being gay. According to the BBC, Falwell condemned South Park as “vile and impudent.”
★ In Falwell’s book Listen, America! he decried, “The Jews…are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.” At a 1999 evangelical conference, Falwell announced that the Antichrist was alive, male and Jewish.
★In a Bicentennial sermon, Falwell proclaimed, “The idea that religion and politics don’t mix was invented by the devil to keep Christians from running their own country.”
★Falwell’s most outrageous comment was made on September 11, 2001: “[T]he pagans…abortionists…feminists…and gays… 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 [9/11] happen.’”
In Finding Inner Peace and Strength, Falwell boldly pontificated: “The Bible is …absolutely infallible, without error in all matters.” But the outspoken and biased preacher was highly selective in his scriptural interpretations. Although the Ten Commandments stipulate “Thou shalt not kill,” Falwell didn’t oppose capital punishment or the Iraq War. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, never preached about homosexuality, abortion or Republicans, for that matter. But he often spoke about the poor, calling them “the salt of the Earth…the light of the world.”
Falwell’s intolerant brand of Christianity was hate-filled. Where in it was the compassionate Christ who rhapsodized so eloquently in the New Testament’s 1 Corinthians? “I may be able to speak the languages of men and even angels,” Jesus cautioned, “but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching…I may have all the faith needed to move mountains, but if I have no love, I am nothing.”
Like all fearmongering, hate-spewing, Bible-thumping blowhards, Jerry Falwell was an egregiously noisy gong.
You may purchase the hard copy of the February 2010 Issue of HUSTLER Magazine (with free shipping) at HustlerMagazine.com. Comes with full length DVD and free shipping!
