Subject: RE: Falwell
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 07:09:45 +0000
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Atheists on Falwell
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 15, 2007
STATEMENT FROM AMERICAN ATHEISTS CONCERNING THE DEATH OF
REV. JERRY FALLWELL
ELLEN JOHNSON, President of American Atheists issued the following
statement this afternoon regarding the death of televangelist Jerry
Falwell.
"While we recognize and respect the grief of friends and relatives, it
must be acknowledged in the wake of Rev. Falwell's death that he and
the organizations he founded, especially the so-called Moral Majority,
were serious threats to our Constitution and, specifically, the
separation
of church and state."
"Jerry Falwell was instrumental in galvanizing millions of American
evangelicals into an intolerant, sectarian and authoritarian
political movement. Gays, women, secularists, civil-libertarians and
other
groups who did not fit in to his plan to construct 'One Nation Under
God'
were stigmatized and attacked. Civil liberties were in jeopardy. Falwe
ll
and other religious right leaders advanced their political agenda in
the name of Christianity, while demonizing their opponents."
"Perhaps the most ignominious moment in Falwell's career was his
appearance with Rev. Pat Robertson on a television program which
blamed the terrorist attacks of September 11 not on Islamic
fundamentalist
fanatics, but on a wide swath of the American people -- women
(because of their support for abortion), gay and lesbian Americans, and
individuals and organizations like American Atheists which labor for
the separation of church and state."
"We cannot and must not lionize Rev. Jerry Falwell because he is now
dead. We expect that some politicians beholden to the religious
right, who perhaps owe their political careers in part to Falwell, will
praise him for his religiosity or avuncular style. The truth is,
however,
that the Rev. Jerry Falwell was a dangerous man who opposed and
worked ag ainst many of the key values underpinning our secular American
democracy.
-- Ellen Johnson, President
AMERICAN ATHEISTS