DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Jerry Falwell Dead at Age 73

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority and built the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said. He was 73.

This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — The Rev. Jerry Falwell was hospitalized in "gravely serious" condition after being found unconscious Tuesday in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said.

Ron Godwin, the university's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."

"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," Godwin said. "He went to his office, I went to mine, and they found him unresponsive."

Godwin said Falwell was receiving emergency care. A hospital spokeswoman said she had "no information to release at this time."

Falwell, a television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority, became the face of the religious right in the 1980s. He later founded the conservative Liberty University and serves as its president.

Falwell survived two serious health scares in early 2005. He was hospitalized for two weeks with what was described as a viral infection, then was hospitalized again a few weeks later after going into respiratory arrest. Later that year, doctors found a 70 percent blockage in an artery, which they opened with stents.

Liberty University's commencement is scheduled for Saturday, with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the featured speaker.

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RIP Jerry.

Larry Flynt is somewhere giggling.

Exactly what I was thinking.

I won't miss him. I feel for those who will. RIP.

Heaven or Hell ?? Where will the old hatemonger end up ?

Times like these I almost wish there was a hell.

God only knows.

Some older quotes

Falwell was a controversial subject for his theological, political and social beliefs. After the September 11, 2001, attacks Falwell said on the 700 Club, "I really believe 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.'" (a sentiment with which Pat Robertson concurred). [2] After heavy criticism, Falwell apologized. [3]. As for homosexuality, Falwell remarked, "AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals." Falwell's ghostwriter, Mel White, said Falwell remarked about gay protesters, "Thank God for these gay demonstrators. If I didn't have them, I'd have to invent them. They give me all the publicity I need."[26]

Oh well..sucks for his family I Guess?

RIP Jerry.

RIP Jerry...Even tho not all had the same view's he had.....We can all feel for his familey and friends....Was i a fan? No But he was still a human being! And for that, I feel for the heart ache, his familey, and friend's are going through.

It is a shame that political differences don't end upon the death of at least one of the opponents.

While I certainly never subscribed to Rev. Falwell's or Pat Robertson's fundamentalist Baptist view of God's mercy, I believe his ministry has done many more positive things than his often bigoted messages.

IMO This guy was a scumbag and I would not shed a tear or even a good thought about him. He was a hate monger and he never missed a chance to further his hateful views . Good riddance to bad rubbish I say. He was often fond of saying that all miscreants would burn in hell so I hope the fires are stoked a little hotter than normal for this deplorable,hateful sack of crap.

Farewell Falwell, I didn't particular care for your views on the world, but it is not for me to judge you.

You must now answer to the man in charge.

Irregardless of where he ends up, he has all the answers now. He's probably had to give a lot of answers and explinations too.

Either way, we all find out together.

No matter your personal feelings, there comes a time to act like a human.

I am disappointed by some of the comments.

Really, some of you folks don't have a friggen clue on how to act and should be ashamed.

I honestly don't know who this guy is. Some people at work were talking about him dying, but I had no idea who he was. I thought it was some patient we had before.

Well, as I would say for any soul who has passed on, rest in peace.

Jerry was a guy who held to his belief......but in doing so caused much debate and divide. I agreed with some of his thinking and disagreed with much.

At any rate, the lesson here is if one doesn't feel compelled to say something respectful about him and to his family upon his passing, it is best to say nothing. It makes you look far weaker than any weakness he may have displayed.

To point one poster out, I will call out Jules. I know for a fact she couldn't have harbored any deep feeling for the man, but she displayed class and showed the class she has as a person to pay her respects and not start yapping out of line.

I am with you Jules......RIP Jerry. May peace come to your family in this sorrowful time..

Sympathies to his family and friends...

RIP Jerry Falwell............the man died today!

Nothing else to say!

I couldnt have said it any better Peen. Good job my friend

I heard it was a heroin overdose.

Only from you!

I agree, I would never disrespect the dead who have just passed. I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear that if it were your father.

The guy didn't deserve my respect while he was alive and I sure as hell wouldn't give it to him just because he is dead. Again he was a hateful biggoted scumbag who is now dead. Upset you ?? Too freakin bad , deal with it.

No...it doesn't really upset me. In my years I have come to learn some people don't have a clue.

no love lost here, adios jerry!

Don’t Believe the Hype

Jerry Falwell built a megachurch, and created a university-both laudable feats. But his influence on American politics has been vastly overstated.

Web-exclusive commentary
By Jonathan Alter
Newsweek

Updated: 7:47 p.m. ET May 15, 2007
May 15, 2007 - I mean no disrespect to the dead, but I take the British view of obituaries, which is to try to capture the true public significance of the person who died, not just his good qualities. The truth about the Rev. Jerry Falwell is that he was a character assassin and hype artist who left little positive impact on the United States—and little negative impact either, for that matter. Besides founding Liberty University, he won’t be remembered as nearly as influential as he’s made out to be.

First, his real legacy: Falwell built the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia from scratch into a mega-church with a 6,000-seat auditorium. And he built Liberty University into a formidable institution that attracts over 20,000 students from around the world and a qualified faculty. Last year, Liberty’s debate team won the national championship. It’s not easy to create a university and Falwell deserves credit as an institution-builder. He will also be remembered through a famous Supreme Court case he lost, Hustler vs. Falwell, which established that public figures cannot recover damages when depicted in parodies. (The story of the lawsuit is told in the film, “The People vs. Larry Flynt”). In that sense, he inadvertently helped bolster the First Amendment.

But Falwell’s political legacy is much less impressive. He started out as a segregationist who harshly attacked Martin Luther King through the 1960s and later called Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa a phony. He was a strong supporter of Israel but openly anti-Semitic, announcing on many occasions that the anti-Christ would return as a Jew.

On September 13, 2001, Falwell said this on Pat Robertson’s show, “The 700 Club”: “The enemies of America give us probably what we deserve.” When asked to elaborate, Falwell added, “When we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe 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.’” Robertson replied, “Well, I totally concur.” Falwell later apologized, unconvincingly, for offending anyone.

It was fitting that this was said on Robertson’s program, not Falwell’s. That’s because Falwell never had great success as a broadcaster or televangelist. His “Old Time Gospel Hour” was never the most popular religious program. While he claimed 20 million viewers, the real number was a tiny fraction of that, usually below one ratings point. In the November, 1980 Nielsen ratings, for instance, “Old Time Gospel Hour” was watched by 1.21 million people—well behind not just Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggert but Rex Humbard and James Robison.

According to lore (and much of the coverage of his death), November, 1980 found Falwell at the peak of his powers. That was the month Ronald Reagan was elected president, after having met with Falwell and other members of his brilliantly-named organization, “The Moral Majority.” While Falwell might have contributed slightly to Reagan’s margin of victory, he was not even close to being instrumental in his election. With incumbent Jimmy Carter bogged down with the Iranian hostage crisis and double-digit inflation and interest rates, Reagan won with 57 percent of the vote—a huge landslide. At best, the Moral Majority added a point or two to Reagan’s totals. More likely, it contributed nothing. Exit polls showed that Carter bested Reagan among Southern Baptists, 50-46 percent. And abortion ranked well behind foreign policy and economics among issues that mattered most to voters that year.

The Moral Majority claimed to have registered eight million new voters but could never provide any hard figures, and many smaller evangelical organizations said they operated independently of Falwell. (In fact, there was considerable tension within the religious right). The real political muscle was provided by Robertson and his protégé, Ralph Reed. Their Christian Coalition was far more powerful than the Moral Majority, whose voter guides were never credited with winning any particular election.

From the 1980s on, Falwell existed mostly as a media creation, not a real player in national politics. He missed the cable TV revolution, which deprived him of a platform. He took over Jimmy and Tammy Faye Bakker’s PTL after it collapsed in scandal, but by then its revenues were a modest $13 million. The related theme park, Heritage USA, went into Chapter 11. His monthly magazine, National Liberty Journal, became a modest success, with an unaudited circulation of 250,000.

Falwell’s power was hyped not just by him but by a media establishment that needed a consistently conservative voice—not to mention a “guest” who could usually be counted on to show up at the studio on time and say something provocative. On shows like “Nightline” and “Larry King Live,” Falwell became a spokesman for the religious right and “good TV.” Who can forget when he claimed that the Teletubbies character Tinky Winky was actually a hidden symbol of the homosexual agenda? Ironically, he may have loomed larger among secular audiences than religious ones.

In 1994, Falwell paid for a documentary called “The Clinton Chronicles” that supposedly implicated Bill Clinton, Vincent Foster, Ron Brown and Jim McDougal in a cocaine-smuggling operation. A man shown in the film in silhouette claimed that President Clinton ordered several of his critics killed. Falwell never repudiated the film, though he later admitted “I do not know the accuracy” of it. Some of the characters featured in the film became involved in the Paula Jones lawsuit that led to Clinton’s impeachment, though Falwell was not central to that story either.

The rise of the religious right was an important development in late-20th Century American history. Falwell’s name is among those associated with the movement. But just because someone is famous doesn’t make him significant. Jerry Falwell wasn’t.

© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18686440/site/newsweek/