From Bloomberg.Com:

“Reverend Jerry Falwell, the Baptist minister who used television to bring his message to millions and then founded the Moral Majority to help politically mobilize the religious right, has died. He was 73.

The cause may have been a heart-rhythm abnormality, said cardiologist Carl Moore of Lynchburg General Hospital in Virginia. Falwell was found without a pulse in his office in Lynchburg at 11:30 a.m. and pronounced dead at 12:40 p.m., Moore said. Falwell had a history of heart trouble.”

Jerry Falwell is dead and now is the time to examine his legacy, even if it means speaking evil of the dead.

Jerry Falwell wore many hats: Chancellor of Liberty University, Pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church,TV talking head, but perhaps he is best known as founder of the Moral Majority.

From Wikipedia:

Started in 1979, Moral Majority was an organization made up of conservative Christian political action committees, which campaigned on issues it believed central to upholding its Christian conception of the moral law, a perception it believed represented the majority of people’s opinions (hence the movement’s name). Falwell was the organization’s public face throughout the 1980s. Among issues it campaigned on were:

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Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority” and like minded organizations have failed in their nefarious objective to impose an intolerant theocracy in America.

Since the inception of the “Moral Majority” in the 1980s, America has become more tolerant, secular and diverse — all virtues Christian fundamentalists consider anathema.

Roe v Wade is sacrosanct; if it’s every overturned by the Supreme Court (not very likely) there would be mass riots in the streets. Roe v Wade is as cherished a doctrine as freedom of speech or the right to vote.

Homophobia may still be a problem, but homosexuals have made tremendous strides in the last few decades. Gays have a right to marry in Massachusetts, a significant progress that was just a pipe dream when Falwell founded the “Moral Majority.”

In the 1980′s Falwell denounced pornographic magazines like Hustler and Penthouse — publications that weren’t easy for horny kids to obtain. Today hardcore pornography is freely available to children via the Internet, cell phone, iPod and cable TV. I’m not saying this is a good thing; I’m merely describing reality.

Today with content available on hundreds of cable and satellite stations and Internet broadcasts it’s next to impossible for Falwell and his cohorts to censor what we watch and listen to.

Falwell may have been able to influence what editorials appeared in his hometown newspapers, but on the Web my essays criticizing him receive wide circulation.

Falwell’s myopic definition of a family as a wife and husband and 2.5 kids, is now just one of many different examples of what constitutes a family. Many Americans now agree that a family can be two men or two women with or without children.

The Republicans paid lip service to Falwell and his fellow televangelists, but they never made any serious attempts to enact his moral agenda. The religous right no longer has much influence over the GOP; it’s noteworthy that Rudy Giuliani, the leading Republican candidate, is pro-choice and pro gay rights.

If in 1979 Falwell had seen the America of 2007, he would have been shocked and devastated. Falwell went to his grave knowing he failed to remake America into his image. And for that, those of us who believe in liberty and religious diversity should be very thankful.