My first college roommate had the last name of Falwell. He lasted in school scarcely more than a couple academic quarters. I cant even recall his first name, but he was sour, negative and unmotivated, so he joined the slew of first casualties of college by the winter of 1964. So when Jerry Falwell emerged into national prominence in the early 1970s, I was first reminded of that roommate who also was from Virginia. My first college roommate had the last name of Falwell. He lasted in school scarcely more than a couple academic quarters. I cant even recall his first name, but he was sour, negative and unmotivated, so he joined the slew of first casualties of college by the winter of 1964. So when Jerry Falwell emerged into national prominence in the early 1970s, I was first reminded of that roommate. The Rev. Jerry Falwells place in American Christendom is getting, and will get, massive analysis in the coming weeks. He cast a long shadow because of his outgoing personality, guts and fearless statements.Surely, he had a key place in defining and rallying evangelical Christianity as a political force and as relentless critics of American culture. His prominence grew with his empire: first the development in 1956 of his mega-church, Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va.; then a national TV weekly show, the Old Time Gospel Hour that included his hard-nosed preaching; the formation, in 1971, and growth of Liberty University; and the founding of the Moral Majority movement, which quickly took spirited stands against abortion, feminism and homosexuality. By 1980, he was instrumental in helping elect Ronald Reagan president.In 1983, U.S. News and World Report identified him as one of the 25 most influential people in America. His outspokenness made him a favorite personality for Saturday Night Live caricatures. Portly and double-chinned, Falwell could be found on many network and cable news discussions, always putting American issues in a perspective against Christian teaching. His TV ministry suffered some in the late 1980s when evangelists like Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker were caught up in sex scandals and fund-raising corruption. The Moral Majority that he founded in 1979 would attract as many as 6.5 million and almost $70 million a year to help elect conservative politicians who supported his moral agenda.I personally only saw Falwell when he came in June 2003 to Phoenix Convention Center for the Southern Baptist Conventions annual meeting. I was covering a protest and rally organized by Soul Force, the national movement to gain full acceptance of gays across religious communities. The Rev. Mel White, Soul Forces co-founder and author, led that rally. White had once been a closet gay working for Falwell and helped write Falwells autobiography. But when he revealed he was gay in 1993, White turned to debunking whatever Falwell said about gays and lesbians. He and his partner even moved to Lynchburg to step up their watchdog dogging of Falwell. White and Falwell were able to hold public debates on homosexuality neither side giving ground. White, I believed, longed deeply for Falwell to see the light and come around to fully accept gays as Gods children and creation.I recall that rally. Falwell was all smiles as he walked across Civic Plaza with Baptist colleagues passing through the corps of protesters and then across Second Street. Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, issued as state Wednesday, sharing his condolences, but then said, "Unfortunately, we will always remember him as a founder and leader of Americas anti-gay industry, someone who exacerbated the nations 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.Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson were the twin towers for the religious right. Falwell was pummeled for his post-911 comments: I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’" The pastor said the attacks represented God’s judgment on America for "throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked."Days later, he apologized and said the hijackers, instead, bore the guilt of the tragedy. Whether you sided with the Moral Majority or an amorphous moral minority, you can view Jerry Falwell as an example of how far tenacious faith can take one in America when the message is clearly defined and it resonates with a segment of the people. Let the long eulogies begin.

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