LYNCHBURG, Va.(AP) 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.
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. "CPR efforts were unsuccessful," he said.
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."
Falwell had 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.
Falwell credited his Moral Majority with getting millions of conservative voters registered, electing Ronald Reagan and giving Republicans Senate control in 1980.
"I shudder to think where the country would be right now if the religious right had not evolved," Falwell said when he stepped down as Moral Majority president in 1987.
The fundamentalist church that Falwell started in an abandoned bottling plant in 1956 grew into a religious empire that includes the 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church, the "Old Time Gospel Hour" carried on television stations around the country and 7,700-student Liberty University. He built Christian elementary schools, homes for unwed mothers and a home for alcoholics.
He also founded Liberty University in Lynchburg, which began as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971.
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5 comments:
What a visionary he was!
Yes, I recieved a comment on my blog a little bit ago telling me this news! I followed him closely in the 70's during the big Moral Majority conferences and meetings. I think that is when I first became interested in politics and how our personal lives as Christians are affected by politics. He is only 2 yrs. older than my dad, who recently had his 3rd heart attack and 3 by passes.
Bro. Falwell will be missed by many.
Dear Sherry and Pam,
He will certainly be missed. Do not read any of the articles written about him, though, because they are all politically motivated. I recommend staying away from DU and Moveon.org.
He was a great man, and he is now his Father! While we will miss him, he is in Heaven. I think maybe we're just jealous. (Only kidding, sort of. lol)
It is sad that others have no idea of the connection. It is also sad that they do not have this connectedness in their own lives. Maybe now is the time we should pray for them as well?
God bless you both.
Jerry Falwell was actually a very good person who meant well and just wanted Christians to be on the right path with God through Jesus Christ. He should be admired and respected for all the time, love and energy he put into his ministry about the love of Christ.
As a Liberty University grad, I am thankful for the impact that Rev. Falwell had on my life and the lives of my fellow students.
I am so glad he was used of God to get the evangelical Christians to wake up to the need to be involved in our politics. He will be missed.
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