Farewell to Falwell.
Mike Ghouse, May 15, 2007
Well, he is dead and gone. It is time for America to forgive. The wisdom of forgiving brings healing to individual souls and to the groups offended by him. It is in our interest to forgive the man, as it brings salvation to our own souls, and we should not forget the essence of all religions. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. [Matthew 7:120]. The Internet is spewing out a lot of anger; just a few sites were enough for me to stop at it.
Falwell's biggest sin was invoking hate against other people in the name of Jesus. He abused the pulpit, his speeches rattled people with hate. Every now and then, after listening to his sermons, people perhaps went home seething with hate and rage, as opposed to a serene mind filled with love and goodwill; perhaps one or two may have considered bombing abortion clinics, sacking the pro-lifers, cursing the gays and lesbians. Jerry Falwell knew how to upload hate.
It appears that he welcomed the crises, as it gave him opportunities to stir up hate and fear, the hallmark of the neo-cons to ascertain the support of the gullible. The irony of it was that, he propagated hate in the name of Jesus and there were people who paid him for delivering it. It was totally against the teachings of Jesus Christ, the symbol of love, forgiveness and non-violence.
As with all majorities, Christians did not condemn his hate speeches, enough. Falwell was perhaps one of the top hate mongers of our nation, he was full of it, he was in our face after every crises. He was malicious not only to gays, lesbians, civil rights leaders (ACLU) and liberals but also to Hindus, Muslims Jews and every one that did not follow his brand of faith. A majority of Christians may agree that he was a symbol of hate that which Jesus came to eradicate.
He is gone and we have to forgive him and uphold higher moral values that he breached. His legacy would be his hate speeches against all other people, and shamelessly labeling it as Christian teachings. May God endow us with goodwill, benevolence and goodness, let the hate be buried with the man.
Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker, Writer and a Moderator. He is president of the Foundation for Pluralism and is a frequent guest on talk radio, discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. He founded the World Muslim Congress with a simple theme: "good for Muslims and good for the world." His personal Website is www.MikeGhouse.net and his articles can be found on the Websites mentioned above and in his blogs: http://MikeGhouseforAmerica.Blogspot.com and http://MikeGhouse.Sulekha.com . He can be reached at MikeGhouse@gmail.com. Mike lives in Carrollton with his family and has been a Dallasite since 1980. ### ### ###
