Intolerance is not a family value

I just read the transcripts of Meet the Press this weekend, which features this much talked about quote from Jerry Falwell:

MR. RUSSERT: On "Desperate Housewives," Newsweek says that the creator of "Desperate Housewives" is a conservative, gay Republican.

DR. FALWELL: Well, the fact that he's a gay Republican means he should join the Democratic Party.

From It Affects You:

Hear that, Ken Mehlman? Hear that, Matt Drudge? Hear that, every other gay Republican out there? Notice there's no flexibility here. No willingness to accept or even consider other views. No room for discussion, acceptance or understanding. If you're gay - or likely even someone who believes in gay rights - there is simply no room for you at this Republican table.

In fact, Falwell comes off as quite intolerant all around, at one point calling his fellow men of the cloth pro-Hitler:

REV. WALLIS: Jerry, there are millions and millions of Christians who want the nation to know that you don't speak for them...

REV. SHARPTON: That's right.

REV. WALLIS: ...that Jesus, our Jesus isn't pro-rich, pro-war and only pro-American. We don't find that Jesus anywhere in the Bible.

DR. FALWELL: I don't believe that either. But I was also against Adolf Hitler, and if you had been...

REV. WALLIS: Well, most of us were.

DR. FALWELL: If you had been the president in World War II, we'd all be speaking German now.

Later, Falwell refers to Al Sharpton as "anti-American" because he disagrees with his views on Ronald Reagan. Nice, huh?

It's people like the Rev Falwell who give religion a bad name, and in turn make some on the hard left less tolerant of religion. I know there are religious leaders out there who actual believe and teach a moral way of life and do not rely on name calling and hatred to shepard their flock. Sometimes it's hard to remember that in the face of Jerry Falwell.