From the NewsAdvance.Com:
“Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, recently sent a letter to City Council members asking them to support naming the city portion of U.S. 460 ‘Jerry Falwell Parkway.’
Newman said that on one side of the highway is Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University – and on the other is Falwell’s birthplace, homestead and his father’s former business.
‘It appears to be an abundantly appropriate place to memorialize him,’ he said.”
The naming of the street after the fundamentalist minister would ultimately be approved by the Virginia state legislature, but if it’s approved by the city of Lynchburg it would give the proposal a big boost.
Lynchburg has a street named after Martin Luther King, the civil rights leader who is universally respected and admired. King belongs to the pantheon of American historical figures who left an indelible mark on society and history.
Jerry Falwell, needless to say, is not universally admired, not even in the city of Lynchburg. Go to any bar or restaurant in the Hill City, and half of the patrons think Falwell was a great man, and the others are persuaded he was a buffoon and a con artist.
To name a street after Jerry Falwell would be an insult to the memory of Martin Luther King. Let’s not forget that in the 1950′s Falwell railed against Martin Luther King, branding him a communist agitator.
The gays, liberals, pagans, pro-choice activists and everyone else that Falwell insulted over the years shouldn’t be subjected to the stress of having to drive on a street named after their tormentor.
If the admirers of Jerry Falwell want to honor him, it would be more appropriate to rename “Thomas Road Baptist Church”, the “Jerry Falwell Memorial Church.”
I urge the fine people of Lynchburg to get in contact with City Council members and urge them not to approve naming of a street after the controversial evangelist.
