The Reverend Jerry Falwell passed away today. The New York Times had his obituary ready, it seems. (I know, I know, they have lots of obituaries ready, but still, it amuses me)

So is Falwell’s death good news for America? Of course not. Life is precious and we should never wish for anyone to die.

However, hypothetically speaking, if I were forced to take one person out, it might have been him.  (He probably wouldn’t care…he’d just go to Heaven, right?)  Here are a collection of quotes from Wikipedia that start to explain why I’m not mourning today:

• “I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them.”

• “If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision [Brown v. Board of Education] would never have been made…. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.”

• Called the gay-oriented Metropolitan Community Churches “brute beasts” and “a vile and Satanic system” that will “one day be utterly annihilated and there will be a celebration in heaven”

• After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Falwell said on the 700 Club, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’”

• “AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals.”

• “Labor unions should study and read the Bible instead of asking for more money. When people get right with God, they are better workers.”