Jerry Falwell Jr.

Jesus and the woman taken in adultery

I am upset to see so many people, including fellow Christians, pile on in condemning Jerry Falwell Jr.

It upsets to have to look into this, in order to respond. Because it is all gossip, calumny, and detraction.

Falwell is accused of an odd sexual interest—enjoying watching his wife have sex with another man. He denies it. We are obliged to assume his innocence, in the first place. But even if he is guilty, guilty of what? Not of doing harm to any other human being. Nobody needs to be warned. Everything was consensual. Not of committing adultery. If his wife had sex with another man, he is the victim, not the perpetrator. Is he guilty of something if he knew about it, and forgave her, even covered it up? If he broke a commandment, which one?

And even if he did sin in some unspecified way, so what? If he were in our presence, and we thought he was unrepentant, it would be our fraternal duty to point this out. He is not in our presence. This also means he cannot defend himself against our accusations. And we are surely acting hypocritically; who among us is without some sexual sin? What did Jesus say about casting the first stone? Would we like others to be prying into our sexual lives in public?

This is all a matter between Falwell, his wife, and God.