Rev. Falwell Found Dead at His Office

Rev. Jerry Falwell was found unconscious at his campus office today, and was officially declared dead an hour later.

Famous for using the television to transform the religious right into a mighty force in American politics, the founder of the Moral Majority was discovered without pulse at Liberty University. Dr. Carl Moore, Falwell's physician, said he had a heart condition and presumably died of a heart rhythm abnormality.

Falwell entered politics after a Supreme Court ruling established the right to an abortion in 1973, funding the Moral Majority in 1979. The group's greatest triumph came a year later when Ronald Reagan was elected President.

The Moral Majority's positions against homosexuality, abortion and pornography made Falwell the most recognizable and controversial figure on the evangelical right.

Some of his most remembered cases were his lawsuit against Hustler magazine founder, Larry Flynt, over a parody ad, and the furor caused in 1999 when one of his publications suggested that the Teletubbies character Tinky Winky was gay.

"I shudder to think where the country would be right now if the religious right had not evolved," said Falwell when he stepped down as Moral Majority President in 1987.

But others have a different opinion. Matt Foreman, Executive Director of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, extended condolences to those close to Falwell, but added: "Unfortunately, we will always remember him as a founder and leader of America's anti-gay industry, someone who exacerbated the nation's appalling response to the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic, someone who demonized and vilified us for political gain and someone who used religion to divide rather than unite our nation."