Jerry Falwell, one of the most intolerant and divisive voices of the religious right died a few weeks ago, and his son, Jonathan Falwell, has taken over as pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church.
Jonathan was presented with a tremendous opportunity to change the course of his father’s ministry, to become a uniter and not a divider.
Unfortunately, it seems that Jonathan lacks the moral fortitude to change direction.
“This week, a local television station conducted an interview with me and asked an interesting question: Am I going to be as controversial as was my father?
My answer was this: ‘If your definition of controversial is that we are going to continue to speak to the issues of the day, speak out against abortion, speak out in favor of traditional marriage, speak out in favor of the family, then I can assure you we will be.’”
Jonathan Falwell in an article published by WorldNetDaily.ÂÂ
This excerpt from Falwell’s essay highlights the myopic vision of too many evangelical leaders. To Falwell and many of his evangelical colleagues the issues of the day are “abortion, family values and homosexuality”.
Falwell needs to open his eyes and see the mother toiling at two low-paying jobs to keep a roof over head of her family; he needs to reach out a helping hand to the less prosperous neighbor who lost his job to outsourcing, and he needs to minister to the young man dying of AIDS.
If Jesus Christ were pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, does anyone think that He would constantly preach on the issues of abortion and homosexuality?
The Jesus of the Gospels would be more concerned about opening soup kitchens, establishing free clinics and ministering to those behind bars.
Jonathan Falwell, like his dear old dad, has a hankering for controversy. Great men are controversial because they have a world-encompassing vision; petty men are controversial because they have a myopic vision.
