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Is Jerry Falwell Really Even A Christian?

The Rev. Bob Chase writes today on Accessible Airwaves:

When CNN went looking for Easter guests for its Sunday morning talk shows, do you think it ever considered a mainline Christian voice?

No, instead it asked the Rev. Jerry Falwell to join CNN Late Edition host Wolf Blitzer in a Resurrection-day conversation about the involvement of conservative Christian voters in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

Lasting nearly 10 minutes, the segment didn't speculate how mainline Christians might vote in upcoming elections. It only served to underscore the assumption that so-called "values voters" are evangelicals.

Wouldn't Easter have been an appropriate on-air occasion for this nation's 45 million mainline Christians and 100,000 mainline churches to have a turn at the TV microphone? Must Falwell's bully pulpit always be the media lectern where the monolithic "Christian" message of the Religious Right is proclaimed?

Where's the mainline, mainstream voice?

Falwell was a bigot when he fought for legal segregation in the South – and used his pulpit to do so – and is a bigot now for continuing to fight civil rights for women and gays and lesbians. I don’t question his commitment to the Republican cause (just ask John McCain about that) but I do question the sincerity of his faith.

When will the media start including mainline voices?

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