venus williams blog: U.S. Evangelist Jerry Falwell Passed Away

U.S. evangelist Jerry Falwell, 73, a leader of the religious right who battled in the political arena against abortion and homosexuality, died on Tuesday after collapsing in his Virginia office.

"Dr. Falwell was found unconscious without a heartbeat at his office today at Liberty University around 11:30 a.m. by his associates," Dr. Carl Moore, his personal physician, told a news conference.
Falwell founded the Thomas Road Baptist Church in his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1956 and rose to be one of the most prominent figures in the Religious Right, a powerful movement that seeks to redraw public policy along Christian lines.
He founded Liberty University in 1971 -- a conservative center of higher learning -- and in 1979 started the Moral Majority organization, which became a major vehicle for getting out the vote for the Republican Party.
With his gray hair and heavy jowls, Falwell was a familiar face on the televangelist circuit, while his views on a range of social issues firmly placed him on the far right of the American political spectrum.

Boing Boing has a list of Falwell's controversial quotes three of which are posted here

“AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals”

"It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."

“[Homosexuals are] brute beasts...part of a vile and satanic system [that] will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven.”