During His Funeral,
Falwell Is Praised
for Activist Style
By NEELA BANERJEE,
NYTimes on the Web. May 23, 2007
LYNCHBURG, Va., May 22 — The
Rev. Jerry Falwell was eulogized Tuesday as a daring critic of American life,
called by God to his role as a clergyman and political activist.
“He was called at this particular time to raise high the Gospel banner in
America,” Dr. Jerry Vines, a former president of the Southern Baptist
Convention, said at Mr. Falwell’s funeral. “He understood that as
Christians, we cannot hide our light under a bushel. He said, ‘I was
called by our Lord Jesus Christ to confront the culture.’ And did he ever
confront it.”
Mr. Falwell died May 15 at age 73.
He founded the Moral Majority almost 30 years ago, seeking to create a mass
movement of evangelical Christians and people of other faiths, united by a
conservative agenda on abortion, gay rights, patriotism and moral values.
In 1980, the Moral Majority was credited with playing a role in the election of
Ronald Reagan as president and in dozens of Congressional races.
Mr. Falwell later disbanded the organization, saying its work was done, but he
continued to speak out on the issues of the day.
The first mourners at the church he founded, the Thomas Road Baptist Church
here, began to arrive at 4 a.m., said Chief Charles W. Bennett Jr. of the
Lynchburg police.
Before the doors opened seven hours later for the 1 p.m. service, the line of
students and the elderly, toddlers and parents had wrapped around the building
and extended for blocks. The Bush administration sent a representative,
Tim Goeglein, the deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison at the White
House, and evangelical leaders active in Republican politics, including Pat
Robertson, streamed into the church. Ralph Reed, a political strategist
and former leader of the Christian Coalition, also attended.
There were few politicians, however, and none of the current presidential
candidates attended.
The funeral also drew protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka,
Kan., which sent about a dozen members who claimed Mr. Falwell was a friend of
gay men and lesbians, The Associated Press reported.
The A.P. also reported that a student at Liberty University, which was founded
by Mr. Falwell, was arrested Monday night after telling a family member that he
had made bombs and planned to attend the funeral.
Officials were still trying to figure out why the man, Mark D. Uhl, 19, made the
bombs, described as resembling napalm. Sheriff Terry Gaddy of Campbell
County said the Falwell family members were never in any danger.
At the service, the fond intimate memories of Mr. Falwell’s old friends mingled
with grand assessments of his legacy offered by his political allies.
“He was controversial — Jerry’s goal wasn’t to be popular,” said the Rev.
Franklin Graham, the son of the Rev. Billy Graham and the president and chief
executive of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Speaking of the new generation of evangelical pastors who have taken up issues
like AIDS, poverty and global warming, Mr. Graham said: “I pray to God
that these new leaders will be champions of those values that made him
controversial. He believed in the Gospel; that’s controversial. He
believed in the inerrancy of the Bible; that’s controversial, the sanctity of
life.”
Mr. Falwell had said that he accepted Jesus as his Savior in January 1952, and
within a few months, decided he wanted to become a minister. He began
Thomas Road Baptist Church in 1956, in Lynchburg, his hometown. Shortly
afterward, he started a 30-minute daily radio broadcast, and six months later, a
televised version called the “Old-Time Gospel Hour.”
Mr. Falwell’s congregation grew, and by the early 1970s, he established Liberty
University, originally Liberty Baptist College, hoping to make it a national
university for evangelicals.
Mr. Goeglein said at the funeral that evidence of the university’s success could
be seen in the Bush administration. “I was pleased to tell him that
Liberty University had come to the White House,” he said of Mr. Falwell, “and
that young men and women he had trained were serving as interns and staff.”
About 10,000 people watched the service at the church and other venues at the
university, where it was televised.
The eulogy was given by Dr. Vines, who, in 2002, called the Prophet Muhammad “a
demon-possessed pedophile.” Mr. Falwell defended him and then drew
criticism himself for calling Muhammad “a terrorist.” He later apologized.
After the efforts to define Mr. Falwell’s place in history, his children stood
at the pulpit and his daughter, Jeannie Savas, spoke of things that his
supporters and critics both would understand: his unconditional love for
his children, their worries about his health, his frequent phone calls when he
told her how he had prayed for her.
Once the last songs finished, the family walked behind the pallbearers who
brought the rose-covered coffin to a waiting hearse.
Macel Falwell, Mr. Falwell’s widow, wept quietly and leaned on her older son,
Jerry Jr. Dr. Savas held her mother’s hand and leaned on the chest of her
brother Jonathan, who will now become senior pastor of Thomas Road.
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