And, lo, Mr. Hitchens has put his words to paper (internet paper!). You can read his column here. Some choice excerpts follow:
The discovery of the carcass of Jerry Falwell on the floor of an obscure office in Virginia has almost zero significance, except perhaps for two categories of the species labeled "credulous idiot."
Like many fanatical preachers, Falwell was especially disgusting in exuding an almost sexless personality while railing from dawn to dusk about the sex lives of others. His obsession with homosexuality was on a par with his lip-smacking evocations of hellfire.
It's a shame that there is no hell for Falwell to go to, and it's extraordinary that not even such a scandalous career is enough to shake our dumb addiction to the "faith-based."
Reader Comments ( Page 12 of 12)
166. @ GREGORY(152)
You said, "Jerry is in GLORY ..."
Falwell is just dead GREGORY... happens to every living thing... eventually.
pboyfloyd at 8:05PM on May 22nd 2007
167. Jerry Falwell is dead. His hate, bigotry, hard headedness and his apparent total absence of compassion will die with him. Hopefully, those who follow him will see the error of his ways. He, along with all the other TV evangelists/preachers had but one thing in common -they were crudely and vulgarly rich and antithetical to Christianity! That said- Christopher Hitchens seems to be an equally mean spirited man. The Devil could not be reached for comment.
Thunder at 4:10PM on May 23rd 2007
168. Whoa. Wait a minute. Let's get clear on something. Falwell and Hitchens are not about faith and atheism in this country. They're about marketing. When we have a can of Coca Cola, all we're drinking is some sugar water and a slogan. Falwell was like that. And in way, he held a mirror up to the American people. The words he spoke, no matter how offensive to some, struck a chord with a large (Moral Majority?) of Americans. And they lavished their hard-earned money on him for it. Jerry doesn't have to go to heaven, he lived it here for most of his ministry. For the rest, who disagreed with Falwell and his faith, we have Hitchens and his ilk who will make their own fortunes writing books about the "odious" Falwell. Dancing on Falwell's grave is like dancing on our own. Cursing Hitchens for his comments is like cursing ourselves. Welcome to Reagan's America, folks, where you pays your money to the Shining City on the Hill and takes your chances.
Chris Schultz at 9:49AM on May 24th 2007
169. Christopher Hitchens is, of course, right. Religeous fundamentalism is a kind of mental illness where people knowingly believe the preposterous without any evidence. We know from a plethora of scientific evidence that homosexuality, for example, is just a natural manifestation of human sexuality. Christians ignore evidence and embrace fairytales - how else could anyone believe that a talking snake led man to sin - sometime after the domestication of the dog!
richard murphy at 9:17AM on May 24th 2007
170. Jerry Falwell - as is still found in the foul personalities of his ilk, such as Jimmie Swaggart, Ted Haggard, and (YES!)Billie Graham - was an extremely obvious embodiment of putrid and disgusting evil. Like Jimmie Swaggart, evil seems to ooze out of him and drip off him to slime the floor or ground wherever he stood or walked!
I and the world around me are feeling far cleaner and breathing a bit easier with the washing away of this desperately evil personage from our planet. We are feeling that there is still at least a little bit of justice left in the world after all.
My message is to those who follow incredibly awful creeps like this one: your days are numbered too, and no amount of arm-waving, bible slapping, hate mongering, war mongering, fear-mongering, homophobic hatred, or corporate whoring is going to save you from the fate of WHAT YOU TRULY DESERVE. Like falwell, you will run, full-force, into that inevitable wall called death - and, if indeed there be any mercy or salvation available for anyone, it will surely escape your brain-dead grasp by many, many miles!
Julius P. Rasmussen Jr. at 12:29PM on May 24th 2007
171. God is everyone and everything everywhere at every moment. I think the more aware we are of that, the less faults we'll find with each other here on this spinning rock called earth.
dave at 9:58PM on May 24th 2007
172. @ dave (comment 171)
You say, "God is everyone and everything everywhere at every moment."
Is God those 1000 babies dying every hour? Is God the junk, meth, coke shooting into people's veins? Is God the diseases and cancer killing people?
... or is it more likely that God is meaningless drivel in your head?
The rules of the Christianity are held together by adherence to a common doctrine. In a Christian not even the smallest deviation of opinion on the most unimportant subject can be tolerated. But it is also necessary to remember that events happened in the desired manner. And if it is necessary to rearrange one's memories or to tamper with written records, then it is necessary to forget that one has done so. The trick of doing this can be learned like any other mental technique. It is learned by the majority of Christians, and certainly by all who are intelligent as well as orthodox. In reality it is called, quite frankly, "reality control." In Christianity, it is called 'reality', though 'reality' comprises much else as well.
Maybe God is doublethink?
pboyfloyd at 6:35PM on May 29th 2007
173. a dead non sequitur was falwell. i pray well he and the koinonia with him are very hot.
chris trevino at 10:04PM on Jun 21st 2007