Falwell Was "Old Guard" Of Religious Right
Death Of Evangelist Sheds Light On Divisions With Younger Members Of Religious Movement
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Play CBS Video Video Jerry Falwell's Legacy Historian and CBS analyst Doug Brinkley talks to Jeff Greenfield about the legacy that Rev. Jerry Falwell leaves behind.
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Video Eye To Eye: Falwell Remembered Only On The Web: Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founder of the Crystal Cathedral California and Tony Perkins, founder of the Family Research Council, discuss Jerry Falwell's legacy with Katie Couric.
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Video Rev. Jerry Falwell Dead At 73 The Rev. Jerry Falwell was found unconscious in his Liberty University office late this morning. He was rushed to the hospital where CPR efforts were unsuccessful. Ramy Inocencio reports.
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The Rev. Jerry Falwell takes a turn on the back of a longhorn steer during a party sponsored by the National Conservative Political Action Committee in a Tuesday, August 23, 1984 file photo in Dallas. (AP Photo/David Breslauer)
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The Rev. Jerry Falwell (GETTY)
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Photo Essay Rev. Jerry Falwell Founder of the Moral Majority who turned the Christian right into a force in American politics.
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Timeline A Preacher's Path A look at events in the life of the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
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Who's Who Reflecting On Falwell Clergy, political figures and activists comment on the Rev. Jerry Falwell's passing.
Reagan added that Falwell's legacy will be remembered positively because he "got Christians out of their houses and out of their pews and got them to start voting."
Conservative Christians are now veteran political operatives who can deliver votes in school board races and presidential campaigns. They fill leadership posts throughout the Republican Party and comprise more than one-third of the GOP base.
Many had already been looking beyond Falwell and his allies for new leaders when the pastor died. A 2004 poll for PBS's "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly" found that U.S. evangelicals had a lower regard for Falwell than for Pope John Paul II. Falwell became such a polarizing figure that his role in the 2004 Republican National Convention was limited to appearing at a closed-door rally for religious activists.
Falwell's remaining clout was concentrated in the Lynchburg school he founded, Liberty University, where thousands of young conservative Christians are being educated.
GOP presidential candidates, many lacking strong evangelical backgrounds, have made the school a campaign stop. Arizona Sen. John McCain, who during the 2000 Republican primaries called Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson, "agents of intolerance," gave last year's commencement address at Liberty. This year's speaker at the Liberty graduation, which will be held as scheduled Saturday, will be former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is considering a presidential run.
Still, Falwell was in the twilight of his political leadership when he died.
The organizational muscle of the movement — once controlled by national groups linked to Falwell, Robertson and a few others — now lies with local pastors, who were key to the 2004 re-election win of President George W. Bush.
Falwell leaves behind allies including Dobson, 71; Robertson, 77, founder of the Christian Coalition and the influential American Center for Law & Justice; and the Rev. D. James Kennedy, 76, a founding board member of the Moral Majority and founder of the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, who has been sidelined by the effects of a heart problem.
"Jerry has been a tower of strength on many of the moral issues which have confronted our nation," Robertson said in a statement. "Jerry's courage and strength of convictions will be sadly missed."
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