Death and infirmity come to all of us, so when you callously dismiss suffering people with words like "we do reap it in our flesh when we violate the laws of God" you're definitely risking somebody's wrath. The God of Irony, perhaps? And if the good Reverend Falwell could dismiss AIDS victims on the grounds that they made a "choice" that led to their death ... well, gluttony and the resultant obesity may well have led to his death by heart disease, but that's no reason to celebrate the event as a "reaping in the flesh."
It is, however, hard to resist asking: How's that working out for you?
Jerry Falwell is no more. He has, in the immortal words of Monty Python's parrot routine, "joined the Choir Invisible." But though he may not be "pining for the fjords" like John Cleese's late Norwegian Blue, I don't join some of my blogging brethren in assuming he's gone to a much warmer place than Norway. In fact, I have no reason to believe in the kind of afterlife that can be described with terms like "heaven" and "hell."
When it comes to any supernatural concepts like Life After Death, I'm open-minded but agnostic. I follow a spiritual practice that is generally wary of highly-organized religion. It does have beliefs about the afterlife -- namely that we may survive death and reincarnate, but only in the sense of "a candle flame being passed from one candle to another." Even that's open for discussion, according to the Dalai Lama. He insists that any religious belief that is disproved by science must immediately be discarded. I agree with him.
All religions should adopt that position. After all, why would a Supreme Creator endow us with intellect only to play head games with us? As a test? It doesn't make sense. He'd be asking us to reject one of His (or Her) gifts solely on the basis of what another human being claims is His will.
As for Falwell, it's hard to understand what drives a man like that. His seminary training indoctrinated him into an increasingly rigid and hierarchical view of the universe, one that insists the Transcendent can only be experienced through a priestly class. That's in direct contradiction to the teaching of Jesus, who protested in the temple and made sanctified wine out of everyday household water. Falwell's clerical elitism was mixed with some down-home bigotry and political opportunism, and the Moral Majority was born.
But who knows? It may well be that he was originally drawn to the priesthood by good intentions or some spiritual impulse.
What's clear is that something -- power, money, fame -- seduced Falwell. In return, he seduced legions of Christians (the word "legion" is carefully chosen) to exchange faith -- the acceptance that ultimate truth can't be known, but can only be taken on faith -- for certainty. From there it was easy to convince them to trade spiritual growth for political power.
You all know what Falwell said and did. If not for his influence we certainly would not have seen three presidential candidates -- serious contenders for the most powerful position on Earth -- deny that they believe in evolution. An exceptionally gifted demagogue, he changed the political landscape of the country.
If karma and reincarnation really do work as they say, then how will Falwell return -- as an American Muslim attacked because the Reverend said Mohammad was a "terrorist"? As a farmer whose livelihood will be ruined by the global warming Falwell said didn't exist? As a gay man? Or perhaps as a woman forced to bear her own rapist's child because of laws passed with the encouragement of Jerry Falwell?
Jerry Falwell, the next voice you hear will be ... whose?
I hope none of these things happen to Jerry Falwell -- or anyone else. I don't have the hardness of heart to wish Mr. Falwell the fate that he may well deserve. Somewhere there was undoubtedly good in the man, despite the great harm that he did. Besides, if you know any born-again Christians you know that being hated only encourages them to believe they're on the right path.
The old George Jones gospel song "Cup of Loneliness" exemplifies the longing for martyrdom certain Christians feel. Like the song says, they feel it's "bitter sweet" to "suffer with the Savior when the way is dark and dim" and "drink of the bitter cup of loneliness with Him." That's what many opponents of fundamentalism don't understand: that personal attacks often backfire because they feed this narrative thread. They increase, rather than decrease, the subject's credibility and influence among evangelicals.
I don't believe that God wants human beings to suffer, but some people do. (And by "God," I mean the unific workings of the universe.) I believe that Jesus preached of that unity of existence, and each person's participation in it. (And by Jesus, I mean the prophet who saw that unity and described it firsthand when he said "I and my Father are one.")
The meaning of the Jesus story is this: God came to earth as a member of a despised people in an occupied land. He died a condemned prisoner of the state, rejected by the priestly hierarchy. If Jesus had returned anytime in the last fifty years using the same principles, Falwell would have been the first to condemn him.
I don't hate Jerry Falwell. I think he did incalculable harm to our country, and I disagreed with everything he stood for. He was the chief executive of the American Sanhedrin. But I have compassion and love for him just the same. If he's aware of that in any way, it's probably driving him nuts -- a lot more than another expression of hatred would.
And if it's bothering him - well, I guess that's just his karma.