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Serenasailor
Veteran Poster
Username: Serenasailor
Post Number: 1597
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 02:03 pm: | 
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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.
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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.
Liberty University's commencement is scheduled for Saturday, with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the featured speaker.
In 2006, Falwell marked the 50th anniversary of his church and spoke out on stem cell research, saying he sympathized with people with medical problems, but that any medical research must pass a three-part test: "Is it ethically correct? Is it biblically correct? Is it morally correct?"
Falwell had once opposed mixing preaching with politics, but he changed his view and in 1979, founded the Moral Majority. The political lobbying organization grew to 6.5 million members and raised $69 million as it supported conservative politicians and campaigned against abortion, homosexuality, pornography and bans on school prayer.
Falwell became the face of the religious right, appearing on national magazine covers and on television talk shows. In 1983, U.S. News & World Report named him one of 25 most influential people in America.
In 1984, he sued Hustler magazine for $45 million, charging that he was libeled by an ad parody depicting him as an incestuous drunkard. A federal jury found the fake ad did not libel him, but awarded him $200,000 for emotional distress. That verdict was overturned, however, in a landmark 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that even pornographic spoofs about a public figure enjoy First Amendment protection.
The case was depicted in the 1996 movie "The People v. Larry Flynt."
With Falwell's high profile came frequent criticism, even from fellow ministers. The Rev. Billy Graham once rebuked him for political sermonizing on "non-moral issues."
Falwell quit the Moral Majority in 1987, saying he was tired of being "a lightning rod" and wanted to devote his time to his ministry and Liberty University. But he remained outspoken and continued to draw criticism for his remarks.
Days after Sept. 11, 2001, Falwell essentially blamed feminists, gays, lesbians and liberal groups for bringing on the terrorist attacks. He later apologized.
In 1999, he told a evangelical conference that the Antichrist was a male Jew who was probably already alive. Falwell later apologized for the remark but not for holding the belief. A month later, his National Liberty Journal warned parents that Tinky Winky, a purple, purse-toting character on television's "Teletubbies" show, was a gay role model and morally damaging to children.
Falwell was re-energized after moral values issues proved important in the 2004 presidential election. He formed the Faith and Values Coalition as the "21st Century resurrection of the Moral Majority," to seek anti-abortion judges, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and more conservative elected officials.
The big, blue-eyed preacher with a booming voice started his independent Baptist church with 35 members. From his living room, he began broadcasting his message of salvation and raising the donations that helped his ministry grow.
"He was one of the first to come up with ways to use television to expand his ministry," said Robert Alley, a retired University of Richmond religion professor who studied and criticized Falwell's career.
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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4395
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 02:05 pm: |
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He probably found out they got his name on the DC Madam's list! |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8598
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 02:25 pm: |
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Falwell was a master snake oil salesman, like the clever serpent in the garden of Eden. I'll never forget how he made the announcement that his university was running out of funds and that God came to him in a dream and told him to ask people to send him money. And they did. In great numbers. |
Robynmarie
Regular Poster
Username: Robynmarie
Post Number: 447
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 03:06 pm: |
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Larry Flynt is probably LHAO!
Rev Falwell, rip. |
Doberman23
Veteran Poster
Username: Doberman23
Post Number: 1003
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 03:12 pm: |
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now if only the evangelist will join him |
Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2163
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 03:32 pm: |
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And in other news no one gives a fukc about, Lindsay Lohan was voted hottest woman alive by AOL members. |
Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2164
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 03:33 pm: |
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oooooh, and The Gilmore Girls is being canceled this year. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4762
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 03:39 pm: |
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Hey people. I had a dream that God said y'all should send me your money. Send it dammit!!! Or you'll burn in hell!!!
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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4397
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 03:53 pm: |
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I first heard of this jerk in Peoria Illinois in '74. I was up there and they had him on tv all day on some channel. All he did was ••••• about tv programs and dirt and filth. He probably wore women's undergarments.
That wasn't the big one:
Remember when that a$$hole said that God was going to call him home if he didn't come up with that money in a week?
He had reduced God to an extortionist.
And then he wound up taking it from a dog track owner. |
Mony
Regular Poster
Username: Mony
Post Number: 67
Registered: 02-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - 05:13 pm: |
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I also had a dream where God asked me to solicit funds for my upcoming revival meeting. Please forward what ever you can spare to P.O. box 666, address it to 'There's a sucker born every minute'. |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4401
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 10:33 am: |
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At the time I saw him in Peoria I thought he only appealed to Midwestern and Southern yahoos and would never go anywhere on the national level.
I still had to learn what is America.
Falwell WAS America. That is why America cannot lead the world. |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2046
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 11:18 am: |
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I read he spent all day pounding on the gates of heaven but was not successful at getting in. When I find the news link, I'll post it. (LOL  ) |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8603
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 01:26 pm: |
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Jerry Falwell was the leader of the Christian talaban. |
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