Much has been written and said in the last 24 hours celebrating the legacy of Jerry Falwell, a leader of the "Christian Right" who died in Lynchburg, Virginia, yesterday. Certainly he was influential in bringing together the seemingly disparate worlds of politics and religion and proved instrumental in organizing the Moral Majority. Indeed, his activism mobilized conservative voters and likely contributed to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.Nevertheless, he also promulgated the divisive doctrines of homophobia, misogyny, thinly-veiled racism, and intolerance for other spiritual creeds. His voice for "creationism," added to the chorus of fundamentalist anti-intellectualism, did incalculable damage to the teaching of legitimate science in the nation's schools. In short, Jerry Falwell was a disciple of America's nascent homegrown fascism. And, as a propagandist in the information market, responsible for the dissemination of ideas to millions through his television and radio broadcasts, Falwell was an agent of evil no less toxic than Nazi Germany's Joseph Goebbels.
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The Chicago Tribune says Jerry Falwell was "an influential man with a booming voice and a penchant for provocative statements."
So was Goebbels.
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