Since Jerry Falwell died last week, I have paid close attention to any comments I have heard about his death. I am sad to say that I am appalled at what I have heard. Please know that in no way was I a fan of the late reverend. I feel that he was mean-spirited and a source of great divisiveness in America. He was a classic example of one who used religion to divide and not unite. You know that this is a major theme often discussed in this column.

The comments that I have heard about his death have been downright mean. The comedian Bill Maher basically said that he was glad he was gone and wished that he had taken Pat Robertson with him. While playing golf the other day, I heard one fellow laugh about his passing. John Edwards' former campaign blogger said, "The gates of hell swing open and Satan welcomes his beloved son." I can go on and on about similar comments that I have heard about Falwell's death, but that would serve no purpose.

We all know that Falwell, The Great Divider and granddaddy of The Moral Majority, used his fundamentalist brand of Christianity to bully politicians into moving toward a public policy that was painful and punitive to many segments of our community. His words were often vicious and hurtful. For example, after 9/11, he said that "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians — who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle — the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'"

So, yes, Jerry Falwell was The Great Divider of the American community. His legacy will be one of hurt and pain for many. However, we have to ask ourselves, will we let him maintain his role as The Great Divider even in death? I say no. Don't let him do it! When we make vicious and mean-spirited statements about the death of an individual like Falwell, we are perpetuating his legacy. We become agents of divisiveness, hurt and pain.

Falwell's death should provide an opportunity for reflection about our sense of community and to pursue a common public policy agenda and inter-religious dialogue. When you have larger-than-life individuals roaming around the American political and religious landscape and they die, there is usually a void. So let's step into the void left by Falwell, reach out to his fundamentalist followers, and try to reunite our community based on some of the common moral and community values that I believe we all share once you peer behind the barriers that divide us.

Living in a pluralistic society does not mean that it has to be a divided society. It means that we can accept and find the beauty in our differences and embrace them. Our pluralism makes us stronger, because it allows for us to glean the best from our diversity and build a better community. The only way we can build a better community is to knock down the walls that divide us that were built by men like Jerry Falwell. These walls are built on fear and the need to be absolutely right.

This need to be absolutely right is what divides communities and erects invisible walls of isolation. A stone wall will crumble with time. However, a wall built upon fear and ignorance can last forever. It is my deepest hope that we will use the Rev. Jerry Falwell's death to come out from behind our walls and begin the process of community building.

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Rev. Jay Speights has an MA in public policy and is an interfaith minister and the main U.N. representative for The New Seminary in New York. You can learn more about his work at the United Nations at The New Seminary website or at harmoniousday.webexone.com. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Jay Speights