thoughts inspired by the death of Jerry Falwell

I was surprised at the depth of my own reaction when I started hearing and reading about Jerry's death last week. (As an alumni of Liberty University, I reserve my right to refer to him only by his first name.) I was moved ... my eyes have gotten moist a time or two watching tribute videos and footage of the announcement of his death. The reason this is surprising is because of my own feelings about the man. If there's one thing that almost kept me from going to Liberty in the first place, it was the fact that it was "Jerry Falwell's school." After visiting, I went there in spite of, not because of his presence. I found a Tinky Winky doll in a thrift store and kept it on my desk in my dorm room, in memory of what I considered one of his silliest faux pas. (Thanks to Ann Coulter, by the way, for being right for once and setting the record straight on that Tinky Winky thing.) I kept the Tinky Winky until my hall leadership partner and I decided to douse it in rubbing alcohol and burn it in a big coffee can that was still a quarter full ... inside our room. But that's really beside the point.

I remember, as I was preparing to leave Lynchburg, telling my younger sister that after spending three years living, being educated, and/or working on Liberty's campus, I have great respect for Jerry. I could tell she still thought he was a nut ... but that's okay. I know. I know because I was privileged to be under the leadership of a man who modeled integrity. His ministry was never destroyed because of an inability to keep his zipper up or to keep his hands off money that wasn't his. I've never even heard a rumor of an affair ... and if I did, at this point, I think I would laugh at the person speaking it. Right before I hit them.

Jerry ended up on the wrong side of issues every once in a while ... like a certain piece of civil rights legislation, for instance. He was a product of his environment, as all of us are. But he changed his mind and changed his ways. I would think that a commitment to stewardship of of the environment and development of renewable energy would have been one of those things he would have come around eventually on.

One of the annoying things about the news coverage of his passing, as my wife pointed out the first day and Ann Coulter wrote in the column linked above, you would begin to think that his first name was "whether you agreed with him or not". Even Billy Graham had to throw that in. It's funny, because if you were around the man enough you realize that very few people at, say, Liberty, agreed with him on everything. He didn't ask you to, either. He was accepting - at least on personal level - of those differences. He just stood up for what he believed was right and expected you to do the same.

At any rate ... for now, let me say without qualification or equivocation: I respect Jerry Falwell as a man of God and for the impact he has had as a pastor, visionary in education, and innovator in ministry. Those should recognized as his greatest contributions. When it came to politics, he was a man for his time and was used by God to draw Christians out of their apathy and embarassment. I pray that my life would have a fraction of the positive impact his made.

Love and Peace,
Jared