Saturday, May 19, 2007

The End of a Life Spent Oppressing Others.

I've been watching and reading, looking at the patterns of dialogue about the death of Jerry Falwell.

One thing I've noticed is that much, perhaps the majority of really angry commentary, has come from heterosexual people, and that it seems to be evenly divided between people of faith, and agnostic/atheists. I think that a lot of these people are now releasing emotions coming from having felt conned, tricked and betrayed. Others I think, are genuinely angry at the way their faith, Christianity, was tarnished by a ministry of destruction and oppression. And no doubt, some are angry on behalf of themselves or loved ones - GLBTQ people, Jews, women, liberals, people of color, that Falwell denigrated and defamed to make his living.

I noticed that there is a real effort from many GLBTQ people of faith, to separate the man from his deeds and words, to reject and even condemn the words and deeds, to keep alive the memory of the harm he did, while being as compassionate as they can toward the man and his family.

I find myself thinking though, about the people Jerry harmed with his ministry. I wonder, how many GLBTQ kids killed themselves because they heard Falwell denounce them over and over again on TV. How many GLBTQ teens today will not be pushed to the brink, because they will not hear him revile them on the evening news or from a pulpit ever again?

I wonder too about the young men, and women, who are in prison now, because they acted on Falwell's messages of contempt for people of color, and Jews, and GLBTQ people. Their lives are damaged, perhaps beyond repair, because they believed what he had to say. How many people will not grow up to commit hate crimes now, because Falwell is no longer preaching hate?

I can't help but wonder, though, how much better still it would have been, if he had renounced his ministry of oppression, and then lived another twenty years or more, spending it in repentance and working to right the wrongs he'd incited?

I wish he'd spent his considerable communication skills, his zeal and other gifts creating justice, compassion, respect, instead of demonizing millions of human beings and fostering oppression and persecution. No doubt, we'll never really know the full extent of the harm he did during his life, and can never fully imagine how much good he could have done.

I think the lesson here is to decide, each of us, what we want for our legacy - oppression of others, or liberation, and then live accordingly.