Amidst all the hysteria and shrieking (not to mention the juvenile behavior on display) among the left about Jerry Falwell's death, there has been little discussion of Falwell's actual legacy.
Most liberals have focused on his various intemperate remarks about homosexuals, feminists, the ACLU, pro-abortion supporters, and various other leftwing groups. But all the gnashing of teeth about Falwell's 9/11 remarks miss what he actually accomplished and that was the creation of the Religious Right.
GetReligion has a couple of interesting critiques of the Falwell coverage which points this out.
It’s easy for the press to get caught up in the left-right divide that tends to dictate the direction of public statements issued to remember Falwell’s passing. But taking a longer perspective on Falwell shows that for all his dramatic pronouncements and controversies, he changed the American religious landscape, and subsequently America, in rather significant fashion. The political spats that made Falwell famous will pass away, but the rise of the religious right and his influence on the use of technology (think television) in religion will be his lasting legacy.
Falwell's most significant contribution was the way he energized people around moral issues and turned those issues into political ones. This was unique for the time; the 1960s had been a decade that liberalized a variety of moral stances in society--some rather alarmingly--and left many moral conservatives feeling left out and powerless.
Falwell managed to unite conservatives around a core of moral issues, from abortion to homosexuality to television standards, and focused them on electing conservatives who vowed to uphold their principles. The pinnacle of Falwell's success was the election of Ronald Reagan.
The legacy of the Moral Majority, religious conservatives, and Republicans in general has been a mixed bag. Until President Bush nominated real conservative justices in John Roberts and Samuel Alito, there had been little progress in changing the courts. Abortion on demand was (and is) still legal. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy nearly made homosexual sodomy a fundamental right. And broadcast television is a bigger cesspool now than it was in the 1970s, largely due to its attempts to compete with cable and satellite for the most titillating and insipid programming ever.
Liberals may spend most of their energy grinding their teeth about Falwell's remarks about feminists and homosexuals, but it is his creation of a religious right that will be his lasting legacy.
Cross-posted at Common Sense Political Thought.
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