Jerry Falwell, Evangelist, Political Activist, Dies
By Heather Burke
May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Reverend Jerry Falwell, the Baptist minister who used television to bring his message to millions and then founded the Moral Majority to help politically mobilize the religious right, has died. He was 73.
The cause may have been a heart-rhythm abnormality, said cardiologist Carl Moore of Lynchburg General Hospital in Virginia. Falwell was found without a pulse in his office in Lynchburg at 11:30 a.m. and pronounced dead at 12:40 p.m., Moore said. Falwell had a history of heart trouble.
Falwell started the Moral Majority in 1979 to organize Christians to be politically active. The group registered millions to vote and advocated for social and moral issues, including overturning the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The Moral Majority, which disbanded in 1989, was partly responsible for the 1980 election of Republican President Ronald Reagan, said Randall Balmer, a professor of American religious history at Barnard College in New York.
For the rest of the story go to: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awBO0xR.fx2A&refer=home
To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Burke in Princeton at hburke2@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: May 15, 2007 14:46 EDT
By Heather Burke
May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Reverend Jerry Falwell, the Baptist minister who used television to bring his message to millions and then founded the Moral Majority to help politically mobilize the religious right, has died. He was 73.
The cause may have been a heart-rhythm abnormality, said cardiologist Carl Moore of Lynchburg General Hospital in Virginia. Falwell was found without a pulse in his office in Lynchburg at 11:30 a.m. and pronounced dead at 12:40 p.m., Moore said. Falwell had a history of heart trouble.
Falwell started the Moral Majority in 1979 to organize Christians to be politically active. The group registered millions to vote and advocated for social and moral issues, including overturning the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The Moral Majority, which disbanded in 1989, was partly responsible for the 1980 election of Republican President Ronald Reagan, said Randall Balmer, a professor of American religious history at Barnard College in New York.
For the rest of the story go to: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awBO0xR.fx2A&refer=home
To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Burke in Princeton at hburke2@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: May 15, 2007 14:46 EDT