Moral Majority leader Falwell dies
Evangelical pastor was found in his university office
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 2:09 p.m. ET May 15, 2007
LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell ??? founder of the Moral Majority and the face of the religious right in the 1980s ??? died Tuesday after being found unconscious in his office, a Liberty University executive said.
Ron Godwin, Liberty's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, had been found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital.
Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but noted that Falwell had ???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, a television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority in 1979, became the face of the religious right in the 1980s. He later founded the conservative Liberty University and served as its chancellor.
Politically powerful
Born on Aug. 11, 1933, Falwell was not particularly religious until his sophomore year of college in 1952, when Falwell said he underwent a religious conversion. Instead of accepting an offer to play professional baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals, he transferred to the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo.
Four years later, Falwell returned to Lynchburg, where he founded Thomas Road Baptist Church, which started with 35 members. Today, the church has 24,000 members and the annual revenues of all of his ministries total more than $200 million, according to his biography on Liberty Univeristy's Web site.
In the 1980s, Falwell saw his political lobbying organization grow to 6.5 million members, raising millions of dollars for conservative politicians and helping to elect Ronald Reagan president.
Falwell claimed that the Moral Majority galvanized Christians to vote for the first time and helped elect President Reagan and many conservative lawmakers in 1980.
In 1986 Falwell founded the Liberty Foundation as a way to broaden his base. Other victories attributed to his influence include the election of President Bush in 1988, several conservative Supreme Court decisions and influencing the creation of the powerful Christian Coalition.
Falwell dissolved the Moral Majority in 1989, saying that its political aims had been achieved.
But he re-entered the political arena by the mid-1990s, selling a video that accused then President Clinton of crimes and calling him an "ungodly liar."
Falwell delivered the benediction at the Republican National Convention in 1996.
Earlier health problems
Falwell survived two serious health scares in early 2005. He was hospitalized in February for two weeks with what was described as a viral infection, then hospitalized again in March with congestive heart failure after being found unconscious. At that time he had to be resuscitated by EMTs at the hospital emergency room.
A native of Lynchburg, Falwell and his wife, Macel, had three children and eight grandchildren.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18679412/
Evangelical pastor was found in his university office
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 2:09 p.m. ET May 15, 2007
LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Rev. Jerry Falwell ??? founder of the Moral Majority and the face of the religious right in the 1980s ??? died Tuesday after being found unconscious in his office, a Liberty University executive said.
Ron Godwin, Liberty's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, had been found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital.
Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but noted that Falwell had ???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, a television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority in 1979, became the face of the religious right in the 1980s. He later founded the conservative Liberty University and served as its chancellor.
Politically powerful
Born on Aug. 11, 1933, Falwell was not particularly religious until his sophomore year of college in 1952, when Falwell said he underwent a religious conversion. Instead of accepting an offer to play professional baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals, he transferred to the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo.
Four years later, Falwell returned to Lynchburg, where he founded Thomas Road Baptist Church, which started with 35 members. Today, the church has 24,000 members and the annual revenues of all of his ministries total more than $200 million, according to his biography on Liberty Univeristy's Web site.
In the 1980s, Falwell saw his political lobbying organization grow to 6.5 million members, raising millions of dollars for conservative politicians and helping to elect Ronald Reagan president.
Falwell claimed that the Moral Majority galvanized Christians to vote for the first time and helped elect President Reagan and many conservative lawmakers in 1980.
In 1986 Falwell founded the Liberty Foundation as a way to broaden his base. Other victories attributed to his influence include the election of President Bush in 1988, several conservative Supreme Court decisions and influencing the creation of the powerful Christian Coalition.
Falwell dissolved the Moral Majority in 1989, saying that its political aims had been achieved.
But he re-entered the political arena by the mid-1990s, selling a video that accused then President Clinton of crimes and calling him an "ungodly liar."
Falwell delivered the benediction at the Republican National Convention in 1996.
Earlier health problems
Falwell survived two serious health scares in early 2005. He was hospitalized in February for two weeks with what was described as a viral infection, then hospitalized again in March with congestive heart failure after being found unconscious. At that time he had to be resuscitated by EMTs at the hospital emergency room.
A native of Lynchburg, Falwell and his wife, Macel, had three children and eight grandchildren.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18679412/
