Conservative Christian Culture Warriors Cut and Run (Part 7)
jhutson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 11:40:14 PM EST

One of the main reasons why the Rev. Jerry Falwell co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979 was to decry the corruption of America's values. For decades, the Southern Baptist pastor has hectored Hollywood, trash-talked TV, been het up on hip hop, and spouted vitriol about video games. But this once bold, big lion who strode the stage popping off about pop culture lately has been reduced to a peewee church mouse. On his claim to fame, Rev. Falwell's got no more game. When it came time to denounce Left Behind: Eternal Forces -- a Christian supremacist video game that one Republican attorney has characterized as "the worst example to date of how the corrosive pop culture has conformed the Church to its image" -- the broken down old culture warrior has cut and run. And he's not the only one to show such cowardice. But now he's being called out in public for the first time by a fellow culture warrior.

When Bible publisher Tyndale House licensed a video game that exploits 9/11, and teaches children that New Yorkers who don't convert deserve to die, conservative Christian leaders sat silent - all but one. Now, a 20-year veteran on the front lines of the culture wars is challenging his brethren and sisters to protest the game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces. So far, he's called out Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, PhD, Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren, and