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by William Rivers Pitt

8/14/01

"What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."

- Robert Kennedy

Amidst the dust and ruin, amidst the pain and woe, amidst the remarkable unity that is being demonstrated by Americans everywhere, there lurks a vein of hatred and evil that is nearly beyond description. Some Americans today are leveling fingers of blame towards homosexuals, towards liberals, towards the ACLU, towards those who protect and defend a woman's legal right to reproductive freedom. That anyone would seek to smear fellow American citizens with blame for the atrocities that have been visited upon us is wretched enough to make any decent human being physically ill. That those who do this are denouncing our fellow citizens in the name of God is the definition of evil, and is the same kind of hate that drove those airplanes like a dagger into the heart of our nation. I am ashamed to be an American today because of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

This is what Mr. Falwell had to say on Robertson's nationally broadcast television show, 'The 700 Club':

"The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this...throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle...all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'"

There were more Americans killed on Tuesday than in the attacks on Pear Harbor and the invasions on D Day and Iwo Jima combined, if the estimates prove to be true. There were more Americans killed on Tuesday than in a year's worth of fighting during the Vietnam War. America has taken a mighty blow, yet we still stand strong. We are pulling together as best we can. So much greatness has been demonstrated by our firefighters, police, medical professionals, rescue workers and ordinary citizens who queue up to give blood, because it is the best thing they can do. Yet, here is a religious bigot who has the unmitigated gall to lay blame upon some of our citizens because he does not agree with the way they live. He does this in the name of his vicious, hateful, bloody God. His God is not my God. His America is not my America.

Mr. Falwell should take that finger of blame and turn it towards his own miserable face. Religious and cultural zealotry and intolerance - on both sides - lies at the root of this disaster. No worse fate could ever befall America than to have it to come under the sway of demagogues like Jerry Falwell.

Gay? To the wall.

Pro-choice? To the wall.

ACLU, defender of the Constitution? To the wall.

Not Christian? To the rack, and then the wall.

Support any of the above, or believe those citizens who support the above have the right to do so? To the wall.

Jerry Falwell has done a grave injury to millions of American citizens with his words. The First Amendment of the Constitution allows him to do so, allows him to advocate the destruction of the very rights that protect his hate and evil. Nevertheless, he must be punished for this.

I denounce Jerry Falwell and his lapdog, Pat Robertson. I say they are the worst form of low and awful wretchedness that has ever drawn breath. I say that God would spit in their faces if She could even be bothered to pay attention to such nonsense.

I say, as an American, that these men do not represent the country I love and would die for. They are a cancer on the soul of our country, and they should be treated as such.

I renounce any ties and fealty to the Christian religion as of today, until such time as I can be sure that bastards like Falwell do not and can not purport to carry the Cross. As a lifelong Catholic, this is no small matter for me. I dissent, and my God will understand why.

I say to my homosexual brothers and sisters, to those who are not Christian, to those who support the legal right of reproductive choice, that I am with you. Jerry Falwell and his band of filth will have to get through me in order to get to you.

To Mr. Bush, I demand that you denounce these people as well. Once upon a time you gave your soul to Jesus in the presence of Falwell. I demand that you lay him low, in the name of national unity and love. Be a leader, Mr. Bush. Be a leader of all of us.

To the world, I offer a plea: ignore these villains. They are not us. We will deal with them the way they should be dealt with. Religious extremism of any sort is the most dangerous threat in the world right now. That this breed of the Taliban are American makes them all the more so.

Mr. Falwell, you will burn in hell for your words. God sees you, and is not pleased. Neither am I.

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), September 15, 2001

Answers

Mr. Falwell should take that finger of blame and turn it towards his own miserable face.

Nah, there's a better place for it.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), September 15, 2001.

How odd. A tirade allegedly against intolerance, yet itself brimming with hatred, innuendo, and extreme intolerance.

OK, I'll stop, this sort of fake open-mindedness is just too easy to mock. Bob's your uncle.

-- HailOTwoFacedOne (HeadShaking@Yep.Oh), September 15, 2001.

"I am ashamed to be an American today because of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson."

Then your pride in your nation was weak to begin with

"I renounce any ties and fealty to the Christian religion as of today, until such time as I can be sure that bastards like Falwell do not and can not purport to carry the Cross."

And, your faith sounds like it was even weaker than your National pride.

"Mr. Falwell, you will burn in hell for your words. God sees you, and is not pleased."

Did God tell you that Falwell will burn in hell for his words? You make the same mistake as Jerry Falwell...believing you have some direct knowledge of the mind of God. In fact, the hate in your post demonstrates how very much you have in common with Mr. Falwell.

-- Tick Tock (Time@Keeper.here), September 15, 2001.

You make the same mistake as Jerry Falwell...believing you have some direct knowledge of the mind of God.

I like that Tick Tock and I agree the author went too far.

I take it you agree that -

" ... denouncing our fellow citizens in the name of God is the definition of evil, and is the same kind of hate that drove those airplanes like a dagger into the heart of our nation."?

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), September 15, 2001.

No, Debra. I don't agree. The hate speech of a Jerry Falwell(or the author of this piece)is far removed from the insane zealotry that causes someone to highjack an airliner and crash it into a skyscraper full of human beings. There is a reason why premeditated murder is a capital crime, while free speech is a right protected by our constitution.

-- Tick Tock (Time@Keeper.here), September 16, 2001.

Calm down Bruce.

-- Your (Supreme@Commander.com), September 16, 2001.

debra,there are life-style choices that GOD frowns on, really no joke.I SURE AIN,T A FALWELL GROUPEE, BUT I ain,t into anything goes Christianity niether.

geesh even common-sense should tell us any kinda perversion is wrong.or is your GOD,the=do your own thing god,of the sixties??

-- al-d. (dogs@zianet.com), September 16, 2001.