April 21, 2006

Jesus' Example--If All Else Fails, Sue 'Em?

That would be the gospel according to Dr. Jerry Falwell. Be careful of the spelling if you are seeking out his website. If you are trying to reach the home page of the good doctor's website by typing in his last name, don't put in one two many l's. The site www.falwell.com will direct you to Dr. Falwell's center of ministry. However, if you type in www.fallwell.com, you will find an entirely different message--and that's the problem, at least in Dr. Falwell's judgment.

The site with one too many l's, very low tech by today's standards, contains this message:

I was just 12 years old. My family and I were on vacation in Virginia. My dad and I were watching television in our motel room. Jerry Falwell's "Old Time Gospel Hour" was on. Reverend Falwell looked into the camera and, preaching against gay people, said, "Even animals don't do that."

That was the first time in my life that I ever felt unworthy of the love of God.

Yes, the owner of www.fallwell.com is gay and uses that forum to present the other side of the issue. Generously, he also provided a link to Dr. Falwell's site for those who are misdirected. I noticed no reciprocal link from Falwell's home page, a clear violation of Internet courtesy.

Apparently outraged by someone clever enough to use that domain name, Falwell did just what Jesus would have--he sued. When the decision didn't go his way, he took it all the way up to the Supreme Court. Earlier this week, the High Court had the good sense not to waste their time with this case, allowing the owner of www.fallwell.com to maintain his site as is.

The MSNBC report also tells how Dr. Falwell intimidated the owner of the domains jerryfalwell.com and jerryfallwell.com into yielding control of those or else face the wrath of Falwell's attorneys.

I keep searching my bible to find where Jesus ever did anything remotely like bringing a suit against anyone. He didn't even have an attorney when He was "tried" and sentenced to death for crying out loud. Can you imagine Him suing someone else who was called Jesus out of fear he would lose part of his audience? The thought is laughable, isn't it?

I guess I have one of those "Lavender Bibles" that doesn't correctly explain to me why homosexuals are horrible sinners and why Christians should sue whenever they don't get their way.

5 comments:

  1. Everyone's suing these days. Here are students who want to promote their "homosexuals are an abomination" Biblical message in high school.

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  2. His site might be low tech, but it is good.

    Well written with a positive message

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  3. I'm continually amazed by people like Falwell who think God needs them to defend Her. Falwell's faith must be pretty weak if it can't stand up to the challenge of one low-tech website. I guess he figures everyone else's faith is just as weak, so he needs to "protect" us from another (and more valid, IMO) viewpoint.

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  4. Rev. Falwell is a pig.

    He's typical of so-called Christian conservatives who have used gay people to further their own agenda and get rich in the process.

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  5. Jim,

    I did a comprehensive post on the law suit I refered to above. Phew!

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