| Page 2 of 2 < |
Bearing Witness To the Gospel According to Falwell
Televangelist Jerry Falwell weathered many a critical storm.
(By Stephanie Gross For The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Misspoke?
"I apologize for my September 13 comments because they were a complete misstatement of what I believe and what I've preached for nearly 50 years," he said. "Namely, I do not believe that any mortal knows when God is judging or not judging someone or a nation. . . . It was a pure misstatement, unintentional, and I apologize for it uncategorically."
Misstatement? I muttered. Wasn't it a rather lengthy thing to dismiss as a misstatement?
"About 35 seconds," he said. "I think somebody said it was 37 seconds."
I was stunned. Reporters dream of asking a question so good that some big shot is forced to admit that he's completely full of baloney, but it never actually happens. They always have an answer. But Falwell was capitulating, confessing. Somehow, though, I didn't feel triumphant. I felt as if he were Muhammad Ali and I were George Foreman and he was doing the verbal equivalent of the rope-a-dope on me.
I looked at my list of questions and asked: What does it mean to lift the curtain of protection?
"That was part of the misstatement," he said. "I have no way of knowing when or if God would lift the curtain of protection."
Did God lift the curtain around Pearl Harbor? I asked.
"My misstatement included assuming that I or any mortal would know when God is judging or not judging a nation," he said. "Therefore I don't know if God was judging America in 1941 or 1812 or on September 11, 2001."
I asked another of my questions and Falwell got peeved.
"I said I've misstated," he replied, "and all reasonable people have already accepted the apology and you're the first one that's challenged it."
By now, I was squirming. His abject surrender had made all my questions obsolete. I was on the verge of asking him, What's your favorite color? Instead, I managed to stammer out: Have you taken more heat on this than anything else in your career?
"Oh, no," he said. "As a matter of fact, most of the heat I've taken has not been because of the statement. It's from people who are upset that I apologized. Thousands of people of faith in America unfortunately agreed with the first statement. . . . They were incensed that I apologized."
He took a sip of diet cola and leaned back in his chair. He looked relaxed, maybe even a tad smug.
"By the way," he said, smiling, "if you were watching A&E's 'Biography' last Wednesday night, they did my biography."
Yesterday, Jerry Falwell left this sinful world. If his beliefs were correct, he should be meeting God right about now. Presumably, God will prove to be a more formidable interrogator than I was. Too bad we won't get to see that interview.
