It's Articles Like This That Makes Me Sick

Let's get one thing straight. Lynchburg is not "Falwell Town." Sure, Jerry Falwell did a great deal to bring notoriety to Lynchburg, but he was not the heart and soul of the city. AP writer Kristin Gelineau's article, "Va. city mourns death of Jerry Falwell," paints Falwell as a visionary who transformed Lynchburg from a small industrial town into an influential Christian college town. Unfortunately, Gelineau neglected to interview anyone from Lynchburg who not was a Bible-pounding member of Thomas Road Baptist Church. If she had interviewed me, I would have told her that Jerry Falwell was a vile and hateful bigot, that he was an embarrassment to the majority of the community, that Liberty University was viewed as a brainwashed cult that had extended its tentacles across the city. A giant L.U. was recently constructed on Candler's Mountain overlooking the city. With Falwell's passing, here's hoping they change the name of the university to Falwell University, so they can change the letters on the mountain and more people will know what others in Lynchburg really thought of him.