falwell: Over to you, Jerry.
"The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Saviour."
"I think Muhammad was a terrorist."
"I do question the sincerity and non-violent intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Mr James Farmer, and others, who are known to have leftwing associations."
"I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehaviour does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status."
"It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."
On 9/11: "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, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularise America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'."
On Desmond Tutu: "I think he's a phoney, period, as far as representing the black people of South Africa."
On Tinky-Winky: "He is purple - the gay-pride colour; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle - the gay-pride symbol."
(...) On the whole, Falwell's enemies are maintaining a respectful silence, for the time being at least. Even porn magnate Larry Flynt, who Falwell sued over a satirical article in Hustler magazine, is talking about what a nice guy he was. But once again, it's Bette Davis who speaks the uncomfortable truth from her own grave. Who will be the first to follow her example, when told of the demise of her greatest enemy? "You should never say bad things about the dead, you should only say good," she snarled. "Joan Crawford is dead. Good."

falwell, robertson, and fundamentalisms:
Falwell's flock didn't laugh. They nodded. He talked of "the evil men, those who deny the existence of God, thus have no authority, no code of ethics." They stared. "One hundred 42 million have died as a result of Marxist Leninism," he reported, "because men do not know the principles of truth and have been seduced by the "evil man." He smirked. "I think of Fidel Castro in Cuba. Castro is nothing but the stooge of Brezhnev, exporting revolution through Nicaragua." Thus, he warned, Satan has "come dangerously close to our borders."
(...) Falwell also opined: "the Antichrist is probably a Jewish man alive today." Anti Semitic? No way, says Falwell who backs Israel -- especially Israel's attempts to enlarge its borders.
(...) He shares his pro-Israel and anti-Semitic penchant with fellow televangelist Pat Robertson. International Jewish bankers conspire to overthrow the U.S. government, claimed Robertson in his book, The New World Order. Robertson who founded and hosts the Television Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club" accused Jews and Freemasons of plotting to use occult finance to control Christians.
(...) After all, the theological progeny of Falwell and Robertson decided recent elections. Logically their elite members populate the Bush government; political payback and ideological obeisance. For the more desperate of these zealous Christians, Bush has less than two years to deliver Armageddon and of course The Rapture. Falwell and Robertson turned out their massive and programmed flock to canvas. They turned out millions of voters to vote the way Jesus would have voted.

on reconstructing christianity in the US (krugman):
The infiltration of the federal government by large numbers of people seeking to impose a religious agenda — which is very different from simply being people of faith — is one of the most important stories of the last six years. It’s also a story that tends to go underreported, perhaps because journalists are afraid of sounding like conspiracy theorists. But this conspiracy is no theory. The official platform of the Texas Republican Party pledges to “dispel the myth of the separation of church and state.” And the Texas Republicans now running the country are doing their best to fulfill that pledge.
(...) Or consider George Deutsch, the presidential appointee at NASA who told a Web site designer to add the word “theory” after every mention of the Big Bang, to leave open the possibility of “intelligent design by a creator.” He turned out not to have, as he claimed, a degree from Texas A&M.
(...) You see, Regent isn’t a religious university the way Loyola or Yeshiva are religious universities. It’s run by someone whose first reaction to 9/11 was to brand it God’s punishment for America’s sins.
(...) Next week Rudy Giuliani will be speaking at Regent’s Executive Leadership Series.